


Pokemon: Zenen

by Leeves985



Category: Adventure - Fandom, Original characters - Fandom, Pokemon - Fandom, Romance - Fandom
Genre: Adventure, F/M, Original Characters - Freeform, Pokemon, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2020-04-23 18:58:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 35,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19156999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leeves985/pseuds/Leeves985
Summary: A story of two Pokemon Trainers on the region known as Zenen. One is a boy named Lex who is strangely mysterious and short tempered around strangers. His reasons for becoming a Pokemon Trainer are so far unknown, but he does have numerous skills in medicine and as an herbalist. The other is a girl named Rayne, she's a curious and straight-forward girl who loves ghost-types and set out to conquer all the regions gyms like her mother before her, but in the two years she's been a trainer, she hasn't collected a single badge. The two meet in an explosive way in the middle of Yilkwood forest and begin their adventure together. The more time she spends getting to know him, the sadder and more violent their story grows. Plus there's sex so yay.I started this story when I used to write alot more back in 2016, but do to personal reasons and life I had to take a really long break, but now I'm picking up the hobby again. This story I made originally just for fun, I have an the main plot down but if anyone has any suggestions or ideas for the characters please feel free to tell me in the comments. And thanks for reading.





	1. The overly curious

"Pokemon, the strange and mysterious creatures that inhabit this world. Trying to count the number of different species is a futile effort, for these creatures come in an infinite number of shapes and sizes. Some soar far above the horizon, slicing through wind and weather, while others dive deep under water, swimming leagues under the crushing ocean. Some traverse the great plains and valleys, basking in the sun, never aware of the those dwelling deep in the dark, uncharted caves and caverns beneath the Earth... most, however, live out their lives with humans. Anywhere from a lifetime partner and friend to their next home cooked meal, Pokemon and humans have always involved one another in their daily lives. Because of this, the two have learned to co-exist and many people have become what's now known as Pokemon Trainers; whose goal is to battle and capture other Pokemon in hopes of becoming a Pokemon Master. Starting as young as 15, these trainers travel across the Regions battling others and strengthening the bond between them and their Pokemon. With as many meetings and partings as there are Pokemon, many strange and fascinating stories have been written by these spirited travelers... This is how it’s been for a very long time, and the story before you is just one of many you're sure to read."  
\- Professor Burmis

 

The brisk morning breeze blew across the docks with a soft spray of the river accompanying its course. The distinct smell of salt from the water married the scent of sizzling fried fish from the food courts lined across the large stone streets. Slowly gliding in the sky were several small white Pokemon with thin, blue striped wings.  
From their point of view, you could see the whole town, full of life and movement. The buildings were quaint, wooden structures that never exceeded two stories and stayed closely packed together. Some of the homes had wooden stair cases on the side and others had large brick chimneys with misty smoke rising from their breach. Between the buildings were wide streets made of stone that had a large quantity of traffic, both people and Pokemon. Shopping, talking, running, and even a battle or two drew crowds out and on the main roads.  
Beyond the town was lush fields of greenery and a few singled-out trees as far as the eyes could see. Back at the docks were several small fishing boats tied to wooden posts, bobbing up and down in the water. In the middle of the river were some small canoes with fishermen in them. Their similar large straw hats and fishing rods gave them a very simple and specific impression. Every once in a while, you could see a Magikarp or Goldeen jump out the water.  
Between the loud ruckus of the town and the tranquil flow of the river, a boy sat on the edge of the main road. His feet dangled over the wooden boards of the dock beneath him. Motionless, the boy was clad in a thin hoodie that outlined his angular body. The hoodie was primarily jet-black with a scarlet red interior coating the inside of the hood. Three scarlet ring designs also covered half of the hoodie around the center. Below his top he wore a pair of black, semi-saggy sweatpants that had one pocket on each side. The pants had two white strings with knots on each end that laid between his legs, as the bottoms overlapped his black, tightly strapped boots. One of his slightly tanned hands was resting on his knee while the other tugged on the hood, covering his head and hiding his face.  
In the background behind him he could hear the yelling of a man at a food court saying, "Come and get it fresh folks! Smoked, fried, smothered, and grilled, we've got it all!"  
In front, the boy noticed an old fisherman a good distance away. He was sitting in his boat and staring intensely into the water. Suddenly, a splash was made next to the fisherman's boat. On the surface, an orange Pokemon with parallel black marks on its cheeks and a yellow collar around its neck appeared.  
"Did you see 'em Buizel?" The fisherman asked as the Pokemon replied with a 'bwee, bwee' before flipping back underwater.  
Several patient-spent minutes later, a bird Pokemon came flying over the fisherman's boat, soaring close to the water. It was small with grayish-black feathers, and white markings on its face and chest. The little Starly quickly flew over the wooden docks, flapping its wings as it landed on the edge, next to the sitting boy. With a few hops back and forth, it looked up at him and chirped. The boy noticed the little Pokemon and looked over at it. His face was shaded from the hood, but the icy blue color of his eyes stood out with an apathetic stare.  
Ashen strands of hair fell in front of his face, as he watched the Starly tilt its head almost ninety degrees to the right. As the moment lagged on, a sudden roaring horn broke the normality. On the far-left side of the dock was the largest boat in the river. It had a whole section above the deck and cabins, with railing all around it. On the side of the boat, there was a name written in navy blue. A metal ramp extended from the deck to the board walk. After talking to one of the other sailors, a rugged looking man in a white and blue get-up walked from the boat down to the boardwalk.  
Once he got up the steps to the stone street, he straightened his white cap and cupped his hands around is mouth, "All aboard! All aboard! The Aquamarine is leaving in 30 minutes! All passengers heading to the Kalos Region must be signed in before we take off! All aboard!"  
Slowly, several groups of people began migrating over to the man as he pointed them to the boat, where two other sailors were now standing. There were men, women, and children, all wearing different clothes and carrying various luggage. Most of them, in contrast, had a rectangular piece of paper in their hands, flapping in the wind.  
The boy glanced back at the old fisherman for a second, and reached up to the top of his hood. Pulling it down, he revealed his long, messy gray hair. His thin bangs impaired his eyesight, as the back of his hair stopped past the nape of this neck. Once the breeze picked back up, it all began to blow to one side. He looked back at the boat, squinting his eyes, as he reached into his hoodie pocket. He pulled out his own white piece of paper that was folded in half, but on top of it you could almost make out the word 'ticket.'  
With a deep sigh, his eyes softened and he looked down at the folded piece of paper. Seeming conflicted, he slowly reached up to his collar and pulled out a small necklace with purple and blue beads on it. He held it tight as he closed his eyes, and took in a deep breath. With the exhale, he lifted his legs up from the edge and stood up from his spot, sinking his hands in his hoodie pockets. The little Starly was startled by the boy's movements and quickly fluttered away.  
Looking down at the ground, the boy began to make his way toward the yelling sailor.

One and a half years earlier…  
"Damnit, I think we're lost." her stressed voice pitched up in sudden realization.  
She walked, holding a wrinkled map wide open in front of her. The map had a diagram of a forest with multiple paths and a legend on the side. Several creases, forming a grid, stretched across the paper as she pulled it closer, attempting to get a better view.  
The girl holding the map was peculiar, at best. From a distance, one might mistake her for a tall, dark tree. But with a closer look, one would realize that what was infront of them was actually a willowy, dark-skinned teenage girl.  
The lost teenager's body, skinny and small-chested, had little figure. Her black, braided hair was tied up with a black ponytail, exposing her lilac eyes. Her curved ears stretched back and barley visible freckles covered the area over her button nose and soft cheeks.  
She was clad in almost completely black clothing: laced-up combat boots, midnight purple thigh-high socks, fingerless gloves, and a loose crop top that exposed her stomach. Along her midriff were pastel blue shorts, and a long-sleeve shirt tied around her waist. She carried a hiker's book-bag, that dragged her down as it dangled from one shoulder.  
Behind the girl were three very different Pokemon, two of which were at each of her shoulders. The one on the left lazily hung down her back. Its small, green reptilian structure contrasted its red throat and narrow yellow pupils. Both its hands and feet had three digits covered with minuscule spikes. Its red stomach was pressed against the girls back as its long, dark-green tail bounced with her steps.  
The ghost Pokemon hovering on the right had a clear, spherical head containing a mystical lavender flame and yellow, oval shaped eyes. On top of its head was a spiked, black covering which resembled a lampshade. Underneath its round head was a small, black body with another pointed spike at the bottom. Extending from its body were two long, wavy arms with no fingers.  
Instead of hovering, the third Pokemon walked behind the girl on its two short, stubby feet. Its body was dark green, and also reptilian in nature with rocky skin. It had a blunt spike on top of its head, a short, rounded snout, and triangular, black markings below and on the upper corners of its red eyes. Red scales cover its diamond-shaped belly, and there were several small holes in its body. Its short arms lack fingers, while its feet had a single toenail each. Its tail had a conical center, surrounded by a ring of plate-like scales.  
The four were traveling down a narrow, dirt path in the middle of a heavy forest. The trees of the lush, brimful woods were wide and the branches extended far from the trunk. Above their heads was a canopy of leaves, with several little beams of sunlight bursting through the greenery.  
Much of the overgrown bushes and plants either narrowed or blocked the path, constantly making it difficult to traverse. The air seemed close and unfiltered, but contained a vibrant abundance of colors and curious wildlife. Along with the exotic sounds that surrounded the girl and her Pokemon, the forest was peaceful enough to make one want to lay back and rest a while.  
"Oh wait, maybe not."  
The girl stopped and turned the map vertically as if to get a better angle, then looked up at a neighboring path she could barely make out between the trees.  
"Lampent, go see if that path curves to the left up ahead."  
Understanding her words, the black floating Pokemon levitated over to the other path while making a soft humming sound. Its arms bounced in the air as it examined the path and noticed the distinct left curve it made. Signaling the girl to come, she quickly folded up the map into a small square and stuffed it in her pocket.  
"Hell yeah, let's go!" she shouted, pulling over the other book-bag strap with a smile.  
Not too far from the traveling group was a small lake. Near the edge of the lake, a few yards into the trees, was a clearing where a makeshift camp was set up. Two rather wide tree trunks grew on one side of the camp with a tightly secured rope reaching between them. Hanging on this rope was a worn down, gray book-bag with several dark stains and only one strap remaining. It had a light-brown flap on the top with two small, black buckles keeping it down; two velcro pockets were on each side. Next to the bag was a thin black and red hoodie. It dangled on the rope with the hood all wrinkled up. In the center of the camp, was a pile of glowing embers and black sticks burning inside a ring of smooth grey rocks.  
Across from the hanging items was a Pokemon and teenage boy, both sound asleep. The Pokemon was canine in structure, mainly black fur with a long orange snout and an orange underbelly. At the tip of its snout was a small black nose. Around its neck were white, bone-like bands with a small skull-shaped pendant on its throat. Two more bands wrapped around each of its ankles, as well as three rib-like ridges on its back. On top its head was a pair of thick, curved gray horns. The Pokemon lay curled in the grass with its long, skinny, triangle tipped tail by its face. Its breathing was calm and soft, as its body expanded and shrank.  
Lying next to it was the sleeping boy; his breaths were broken up and shaky. He laid sweating with his back on a grey towel, which seemed to be kept in good condition. His hair was long and light-grey, tied in a loose, short ponytail. Several of the wild strands reached down his neck and in front of his eyes as the rest was pulled back. His head was cocked to the left and his face was vertically long, completed by a sharp-smooth chin and pointy nose.  
The boy's tanned upper body was slightly exposed by the dark-blue tank top he wore that seemed to fit him perfectly. From what one could see, one would assume his body was in prime physical condition. However, his muscle-toned arms and chest were still rather slim and his body was very lean, rather than buff. Below his tank top was a pair of brown, semi-saggy cargo pants with pockets on all sides. Wrapped through the loops of the pants was a black belt that had an equally black sheath strapped horizontally. Inside, was a combat knife with a dark-green handle. By his feet, were two un-strapped and unlaced black boots sitting upright.  
The boy rolled to his left revealing the back of his belt. There were six round clips, three on each side. On his back right were two, small round balls with the top half colored red and the bottom half white, clipped to the belt. In the center of each ball was a small, white button with a black outline reaching around the center.  
All of a sudden, on the edge of the clearing, there was shuffling inside a patch of thick bushes. The shuffling continued until - without warning - a small purple Pokemon with large buck teeth jumped out. Following that, another one hopped out behind the first. They both had long, slightly curled tails and skinny whiskers; the second one’s whiskers appeared shorter.  
They scurried across the camp, toward the hanging bag. With its nose steadily twitching, the first Rattata climbed up the tree and examined the bag carefully. The other crept up to the sleeping creatures and studied them. Taking interest in the Pokemon, it slowly crawled up to its back and sniffed it for a brief moment. Unexpectedly, the large black Pokemon let out a quick sneeze, and the Rattata to jumped back several feet.  
Drowsily, the canine raised its head and opened its mouth, letting out a whiny yawn. The inside of its mouth was black with a long pink tongue and razor-sharp teeth. Breathing at a regular speed now, the large canine glanced at the boy and began to sniff. Noticing a scent, the Pokemon's head jolted around, seeing the pair of rodents trembling in fear. Slowly, the intimidating white teeth were exposed as its soft growl grew fiercer.  
Ditching the bag, the two Rattatas bolted back into the bushes as the black Pokemon shot up from its spot and began barking ferociously. Immediately after, the teenage boy jumped up and instinctively pulled the knife out with his left hand, pointing it toward the barking Pokemon. The knife had two sides too it, one was an intensely sharp edge while the other had several jagged ridges. Anxiously checking his surroundings, and not spotting anything, he calmed himself down with a deep breath and sheathed his blade. After seeing the growling Pokemon in a 'ready to strike' stance, he called out to it.  
"Houndoom!"  
The growling ceased, and the tensed up Houndoom turned to the boy as it started panting adorably.  
"What the fuck, man." He said with a deep groan.  
The boy slouched back and stretched out his arms with a quiet yawn. Scratching his unkept hair, the boy pushed himself up to his feet as the Houndoom tramped over and looked up at him. The Pokemon stood even with his waist, but the horns went up to his chest. The boy reached down and rubbed the fur between his horns on his head.  
"You hungry?"  
With another yawn, he walked over to the hanging bag and unbuckled the top flap. After flipping it open, the boy rubbed his eyes and sunk his hand deep into the bag, rummaging through the things inside.  
"You woke me up way to early." The boy said groggily as he pulled out a rather full looking, brown paper bag.  
He turned around and reached behind his waist with his right hand. With a short click sound, he un-clipped one of the small Pokeballs from his belt and pressed the button in the center. The ball then expanded in the boy's hand to about the size of a softball. After filling the boy's hand, he tossed the ball into to the air. When the Pokeball opened, a white beam of light shot out toward the ground. Once it hit the ground, the light instantly began to take form until it was in the shape of a small Riolu.  
This blue, canine Pokémon stood up on the toes of its black, hind legs. Its upper torso was also black, but the rest of it, including the tail and arms were blue. On the back of each of its forepaws was a white, oval-shaped bump. It also had a black 'mask' around its dark red eyes and ears. As it stood there composed, it reached upward and tugged at a thin blue scarf it had tied around its neck.  
After the ball closed back up in midair, it fell down and was caught by the boy again, shrunk down to its original size, and re-clipped to the back of his belt.  
"Found these yesterday." The boy revealed as he poured a small river of round, pink berries out of the bag. "Magost berries." he said, as the two Pokemon stared at the pile with curiosity.  
The Riolu quickly launched itself toward the fruits and picked one up, sinking its teeth into its juicy center. The Houndoom crept up to the pile and sniffed the berries very closely, then turned his head in disgust.  
"Eat." The boy said as he dropped down to a sitting position and picked one up.  
The size of the berry was almost enough to fill his hand, as he brought it up to his mouth and took a large bite. Dark pink juice dripped heavily out of the fruit and slid down into his short, white and black chin hair as he chewed.  
"Doom." He said with his mouth full, "C'mon, even Riolu loves th-”  
He stopped and began to choke after noticing the eight green, juice stained stems laying in a pile next to the small blue Pokemon as he sunk his teeth into its ninth berry. After coughing up half a lung, the boy got his composure and opened his mouth.  
"Shit Riolu!"  
After watching the two chow down on the food, the Houndoom stared at the few berries that were left with conflicted feelings.  
"If you didn't want this then you should have eaten whatever you were barking at." The boy said with a sassy expression.  
The Houndoom growled in defeat and picked up one of the berries with his mouth. Then it turned around and slowly walked to the other side of the clearing; it plopped down with its back facing the others while it nibbled on the berry. The boy smirked slightly and bit into his food; pushing the hair out his eyes and leaning back against a tree.  
After about ten minutes of casually chowing down on fruit, the Riolu gave a loud exhale and laid back with a pleased face; using the scarf to wipe his mouth.  
"Today's the day." The boy declared as he stood up and patted the dirt off the back of his pants.  
Picking up the empty brown bag and shoving it back in his book bag, the boy walked over to the grey towel and began to roll it up.  
"Today, we're gonna' catch him and finally get the fuck out of here."  
The Houndoom turned its head to see what the boy was doing, while the Riolu's ears perked up in interest to what he was saying. He rolled it up into a cylinder and laid it down under the bag, then grabbed the hoodie off the rope and flipped it over his shoulder.  
"But first... I gotta' take a piss." He said as he walked into the trees away from the clearing.

Meanwhile...  
Running slower than before, the girl stopped sharp in the middle of the dirt path. Perplexed by what was in front of her, she stared in confusion as the path ahead split into three distinct directions.  
"Wait... this isn't supposed to be here." She pouted as the floating Pokemon hovered behind her and the third Pokemon stumbled its way forward, gasping for air.  
She turned around and noticed her Pokemon holding its knees.  
"Oh, Larvitar. You look like you're having a small heart attack." She said playfully as she squatted down in front of it.  
She slid the book bag off her shoulders and brought it around in front of her. After unzipping one of the side compartments, she reached inside and pulled out a small Pokeball and enlarged it.  
"Here, take a break for a while."  
Suddenly, a red beam of light extended from the center of the Pokeball toward the Larvitar, dematerializing it into red light and sucking it into the ball.  
Placing the ball back in the bag, she stood up and rubbed her forehead with the back of her arm.  
"Huh, do you guys want a break too?"  
As if expecting her to say that, the green Treecko gave a long exhale and slowly slumped down her back in exhaustion.  
"You didn't even do anything." She laughed, "How about you Lampent?"  
The Lampent bucked up with energy and bent its arm in salute, signifying that it was fine. After grabbing another Pokeball and returning Treecko, the sweating, red-faced girl zipped her book bag up, buckled it back on, and examined the problem in front of her.  
"Now what do we have here?" She said to herself as she placed her hand over the shirt tied around her waist and leaned to one side.  
With a deep breath, she reached down in her pocket and whispered, "Why is this forest giving me such a hard fucking time?"  
She pulled out the folded map and began to open it up. Just as she went to hold it up in front of her, there was a loud twig snap and shuffling too her left. Both her and Lampent turned in reaction, but before they could do anything, a lightning-fast figure darted out from the trees, pushing the girl to the ground. She yelped in shock and looked up to see a well camouflaged, primarily green Pokemon with a bush-like, leaf filled crest on its head. Its ears were broad with light green insides, and it had oval eyes with a black nose.  
She watched as it jumped from the ground to one of the extended tree branches.  
"A Simisage!?" She exclaimed as it turned around and stared at her with a mischievous grin.  
It had furry, white eyebrows and shoulder tufts, plus a cream-colored face, chest, hands and feet. Its hands had five fingers, and its feet had three toes. Thorny and tipped with leaves, the Pokemon's tail wrapped around the branch it stood on. As she watched the Simisage, she noticed it was holding a large piece of paper crumbled up in its hand.  
"Wha- Oh, you little shit."  
Realizing the crumbled paper was her much needed map, she stood back up and pointed at the laughing Pokemon.  
"Not today bud, you'd better give me that map back before I come up there and kick your little green ass."  
Amused by her words, the Simisage taunted the girl by turning around and wagging its tail.  
"Lampent, Ember!"  
Without a moments delay, the floating Lampent stretched its arms out and opened its mouth. Launching out from it was a wave of small yellow and red flames shooting straight for the Simisage. Quickly reacting, the Pokemon jumped off the branch just before being burnt and landed on the dirt path. Racing away from the girl, she sprinted after it with her Pokemon, leaving behind the blazing tree branches.  
"You aren't getting away that easy! Will-O-Wisp!"  
After hearing her command, Lampent opened its mouth again and out came a sinister, bluish-white flame that landed next to the running Simisage. Suddenly, the green Pokemon jumped to the side onto a tree and somersaulted backwards toward the girl and her Pokemon. As he flew, its tail began to glow a bright whitish-grey color and he went to slam the two with it.  
"Watch out!" The girl yelled as she and Lampent both jumped out of the way. The Simisage's tail slammed down on the dirt causing a vast amount of smoke to cover the area.  
Coughing on the dust, the girl stood back up and tried find where the Pokemon went. As the dust cleared, it was her and Lampent standing alone on the path with no Simisage to be seen. She straightened up her tank top, knocking the dirt off it, and looked around for the thief. Then, behind her was a familiar laugh as she turned around to see the Pokemon hanging with one arm holding the branch and the other gripping the map.  
"Oh you're real funny, let'me tell you." She said in a calm, sarcastic voice, "Will-O-Wisp!"  
Again, a long beam of blueish-white flame shot out of Lampent’s mouth and landed on the branch where the Simisage was. After dodging, the Pokemon again began racing down the dirt road in the opposite direction.  
"Get him Lampent!" She called as they both darted after it.  
Lampent began to catch up to the Simisage causing it to run on all fours. Taking a sharp turn onto a different path, the Simisage stopped, kicking up dust, and charged at Lampent.  
Unprepared, Lampent was hit by a frenzy of claw attacks as soon as it cut the corner, and the girl yelled, "Flame Burst!"  
All of a sudden, a powerful wave of heat and fire shot out from Lampent in every direction. The flames didn't extend very far, but they were enough to knock the unsuspecting Simisage several yards back with a painful screech. After having absorbed a great deal of damage, the burnt up Simisage pushed itself back up and attempted to run.  
Catching her breath, she watched the helpless Pokemon stumbled away and fell to the ground several times. Her face softened up from its tenseness as she took a few deep breathes.  
"Lampent, use Hex." She said and the Pokemon hovered forward, lifting its arms and squinting its eyes.  
Out of the blue, the escaping Simisage began screeching in pain as its body tensed up as if it was being electrocuted. Once the Pokemon ceased its screaming, it slowly fell to the ground and fainted. After that, the girl walked up to the beat up Pokemon and took off her backpack. Kneeling down, she unzipped her main compartment and pulled out an orange metal device with a small red and white Pokeball icon imprinted on it. She pointed it at the Simisages wounds and out of a small grey knob in the front, came a spray of misty liquid.  
She sprayed the wheezing Pokemon head to toe with the device and whispered, "Shouldn't have played with fire, dummy."  
Her voice was soft and calm, "Sorry about this."  
She placed the device back in her bag and examined the Pokemon. It was lying on its stomach and had one of its hands under it. She rolled it over and saw that in that hand was her much needed map. Half of it was burnt with a black, crispy edge remaining and the other half was shredded up beyond repair.  
A snort came out the girl’s nose as she laughed, "Looks like you win. You can keep it."  
She zipped her book bag up and buckled it back on her shoulders. Standing and examining her surrounding she again placed her hand on her hip and leaned to one side.  
"Now- which way did we come from?"  
Back by the camp, the boy was sitting on the ground, wearing his black and red hoodie and putting on a pair of black socks.  
"If we have any manner of luck, he should have left the lake in search of food by now. So that's where we'll start." As he said that, the Houndoom and Riolu were busy grabbing the grey rocks used to contain the fire and scattering them around in the woods.  
The boy grabbed his boots and the left one slipped out his hand, causing something to drop out of it.  
"Shit." He whispered to himself as he quickly picked up the small knife and flipped it closed, then tucking it in the boot.  
He strapped on the firm shoe and tied it tight, then began strapping the other one on. Once they were both on, he over-lapped them with his pants and stood up.  
"Y'all ready?" He asked, and the two Pokemon nodded in unison.  
He grabbed his book bag with the towel secured under the bag's top flap and tightly tied in a cylinder with the rope. With only the left strap remaining, he slid it over his left shoulder and held the strap while his right hand was snug in his hoodie pocket. He gave the clearing one more glance and turned around.  
"Lets go." He said as the three began walking into the woods.  
Away from their usual abundance of sunlight, the trees were close and the leaves blocked most of the sun’s rays from reaching the ground. On ground level, their way was constantly blocked by large bushes, brier patches, and other small trees. Even with these obstacles in play, the three cautiously made their way through the thickets, toward their destination.  
The Riolu jumped up to a low tree branch, then jumped to another, using agility to easily traverse the forest. Soon the number of trees lessened and a few yards in front of them was what seemed like an opening.  
"Riolu, go look around and see if he's anywhere nearby." The boy whispered loudly as the Pokemon jumped off its branch to another in the opposite direction.  
"C'mon Doom." He said as the two crouched among the shrubbery and crept up to the opening.  
Once at the edge of the woods, he stopped and examined his surroundings. The water a few feet infront of him flowed quietly and was clear enough to see a long way down. The lake itself wasn’t enormous but one wouldn't be able to see the other side in good detail. After watching for almost a minute, the boy and Houndoom slowly walked out, onto the ring of mud and grass between the forest and the lake. Kneeling down at the edge where the water was pushed against the dirt, he ran his fingers over the small waves, dipping his hand in.  
The boy's icy blue eyes were focused on the lake; watching it relentlessly as if something was going to jump out at any moment. Houndoom also watched, but his eyes were on the tree line, waiting for any sudden speck of movement, but all there was were swaying trees in the wind and green leaves floating down into the water.  
"It's not here." He said as he pulled his hand out and shook the water off, "Find him."  
Suddenly, Houndoom dropped its nose to the ground and began sniffing vigorously as they walked around the edge of the lake. Taking the lead, Houndoom sniffed almost halfway around as the boy peeked between the trees. Taking slow, light steps, he was surprised when he heard a loud squishing sound beneath his foot. He looks down to see that he had just sunk his boot into some thick mud.  
"Fuck." He mouthed as he lifted his shoe and stomped the mud off in the grass. As he did, he noticed a grouping of red flowers a few feet away. The flowers had large, curvy petals and tall stems extending several feet out of the ground. Taking interest, he walked up to them and knelt down, then used his hand to push them out of the way. Under the flowers, at the base of their stems, were several solid, light-brown nuts about the size of an egg.  
"Hmm." He hummed as he stared.  
Releasing the flowers, he stood back up, gripped his bag strap, and jogged up to Houndoom. The black Pokemon had stopped and was sniffing intensely around what appeared to be slid marks in the mud leading into the forest.  
The boy stopped and squatted down, scratching the Pokemon behind its neck.  
"Good job." He whispered.  
Then, out of the nowhere, a familiar small, blue Pokemon jumped out the shady forest from in front, startling them both. It was Riolu. He was slightly panting while pointing into the forest.  
"You find it?" The boy asked with anticipation spelled across on his face.  
After the Pokemon nodded, he patted Houndoom on the back and all three of them darted into the forest. Leading the charge was Houndoom as it swiftly sprinted ahead, leaping over stumps and bushes in the way. Riolu, again, was using the tree branches, elegantly springing from branch to branch. Following them was the boy, running carefully between obstacles, attempting to keep up with his Pokemon best he could.  
As they were crashing through, all manner of Pokemon, peacefully going about their day, were startled. Several small Nincada scrambled back into their holes under the tree trunks and a few Wurmple nearly fell off the branches they were resting on when they saw a Houndoom and a boy run by.  
Gradually, Houndoom began to slow down and Riolu jumped off a branch and landed next to him. They both stopped at a dirt path that extended as far as they could see in both directions. The boy caught up to them and walked up quietly, scanning his surroundings.  
"Riolu, can you see it?" He whispered.  
At that moment, the small, blue Pokemon closed its eyes and placed its paw on its chest. Suddenly, both its ears rose up horizontally and began shaking extremely fast; producing a steady humming sound. Its face tensed up as if it was having a hard time and it gripped its scarf tightly. After a few moments, the seemingly focused Pokemon's eyes shot open and it quickly turned its head to the right and pointed down the path.  
Suddenly, several yards down the path, a Pokemon wandered out into the open. The Pokemon was indigo-blue and had a brown shell with a pale yellow underside encasing its body. The shell itself had multiple scars on both the back and front and a thick, white rim separating the upper and lower halves of the shell. It walked on two feet, which both had three pointed toes, and its blueish-white fur covered both its long ears and tail. Its hands had three sharp, clawed fingers and one was holding a small, skinny branch with several purple berries hanging off of it.  
The shelled Pokemon stopped in the middle of the path and turned its head to see a boy, Houndoom, and Riolu staring at it threateningly. Its face had a dark blue streak on each cheek, and two sharp teeth protruding from its upper jaw. Its sharp, brown eyes locked with the boy's and they stared at each other for nearly a minute without making a move. All that was heard was the buzz of bug-type Pokemon in the forest and the cawing of birds in the distance.  
Once a few seconds passed, the boy opened his mouth, "Boo."  
The blue Pokemon dropped its branch and made a break for it, straight into the trees.  
"Cut him off!"  
Houndoom dashed into the forest and the boy and Riolu ran towards it from behind. As it ran, the Pokemon was easily able to navigate through the forest as if it had the whole thing memorized. Dropping to all fours, the shelled Pokemon glanced back, not seeing the boy or the other Pokemon. As soon as it looked back in front it was greeted by a pair of horns on the head of a large black Pokemon. Houndoom had rammed it head-on knocking it back several feet and landing on the back of its shell. Quickly flipping itself over with its tail, the Pokemon got back on its feet and stood up to see it was surrounded. A growling Houndoom in front and a battle-ready Riolu behind, the Pokemon looked extremely tense as it searched for a way out.  
When the boy showed up and saw the situation, a small grin grew on his face as he yelled, "Houndoom, Thunder Fang!"  
Houndoom barked as small, yellow bolts of electricity began sparking around the fangs in its mouth. After that, it charged the Pokemon, barking fiercely as it went to bite. Suddenly, the turtle-like Pokemon jumped at Houndoom and began spinning wildly as it retracted into its shell. When the two collided, Houndoom was whacked in the face and knocked away, but it didn't stop there. Once the attack was done, the Pokemon came back out of its spinning shell and landed on its feet, kicking dust back, then opening its mouth and pulsing a blast of water straight at Riolu and the boy.  
"Dodge it Riol- Shit!"  
The boy and Riolu jumped out of the way of the attack then the boy yelled again, "Force Palm!"  
Riolu swiftly ran towards the Pokemon and it did the same. Once they were almost in arms reach of each other, the Pokemon attempted to retract into its shell and spin itself again, but Riolu dropped down to its knees and bent backwards, sliding under it as it spun passed him. Once the Pokemon was out of its shell, Riolu thrust its paw into its back, launching a shock wave of force, causing it to screech violently. Immediately after, the Pokemon turned around and sunk its teeth deep into Riolu’s shoulder.  
Flinching at the pain, Riolu listened as the boy yelled out another command, "Use Counter!"  
Suddenly, Riolu used its free arm to launch a straight-forward punch into the Pokemon’s shell, but the Pokemon only chomped down harder, refusing to let up.  
"Again!"  
Again Riolu pounded the Pokemon’s shell, shaking its body, but it refused to let go, drawing blood. Stumbling back behind the Pokemon, Houndoom shook its head and saw the two Pokemon locked in combat.  
With a vengeful look in its eye and a menacing growl, the boy saw his Pokemon back in action and called out, "Houndoom, Thunder Fang!"  
Houndoom quickly charged the Pokemon, again with electrified fangs. He chomped down on the unsuspecting Pokemon causing the whole thing to shoot up with electricity. Yellow bolts flying everywhere, the Pokemon loosened its grip on Riolu and he took the opportunity to launch another powerful thrust on the Pokemon's lower shell. Once the Pokemon let go, Riolu jumped several feet back and gripped its left shoulder, kneeling down in pain; several small bolts of electricity could be seen sparking off its body. Once Riolu was free, Houndoom threw the Pokemon on the ground aggressively and it laid there quietly. A brief moment of calmness went by as Houndoom slowly crept up to the wiry Pokemon, fangs bared, ready to bite into it again. The boy dropped his bag next to a tree and ran up to get a better view.  
"Wait Houndoom get back!" As the boy yelled that, the laying Pokemon turned its head with its mouth open, staring straight into Houndooms eyes.  
A huge volume of water was launched out its mouth under great pressure sending Houndoom flying several feet into the air and slamming into a tree. Luckily, after hearing the boy's words, Houndoom had enough time to jump back slightly so he didn't receive the full blast. After a few seconds, both Houndoom and the Pokemon gathered their remaining strength and slowly stood up.  
The boy looked at his two Pokemon and they looked at him, "You guys good?", he asked. Houndoom shook the water off his body and barked while Riolu stood up and grunted.  
The boy nodded and looked at the steady blue Pokemon.  
"Ready to give up yet?"  
The Pokemon glanced at the boy and turned around dashing into the opposite direction.  
"And that's why I want you."

Elsewhere...  
Scratching her the space between her braids, the girl wondered down the path with Lampent humming in front of her.  
"I think we actually might die in this forest Lampent." She said as the Pokemon just continued humming along as if she didn't.  
"Hey Lampent. Laampeent. Are you ignoring me?"  
The Pokemon continued to float along in a world of its own.  
"Ugh, right. Nothing ever bothers yo-"  
Suddenly, she was cut off by a long, eerie howl that echoed through the forest, seemingly silencing everything around them. The howl itself was loud and sounded relatively close to the girl as she searched around peeking through the trees, trying to spot what it was.  
"Uhh, that doesn't sound good and it was really close. You think we should-" She looked at her Pokemon and it was floating low to the ground and shivering with fear.  
"Hey, hey, hey, don't worry. It's alright, I'm sure that was nothing to worry about. It was only one howl, when Pokemon who howl like that are in packs they always howl together. C'mon up here."  
She lifted the shivering Pokemon up in her arms and the Pokemon snuggled up on her chest. She continued to walk only this time her eyes were fixated in the direction she heard the howl.  
As time went on, Lampent slowly loosened up and eventually quit shivering so hard and looked up at the girl.  
"You feelin' better?" She asked.  
The Pokemon gave her a nod and hummed its way back into the air.  
"Alright, good."  
The two smiled at each other then heard loud rustling to their right. They both quickly turned to see what it was but a large thicket was in the way. The girl looked up ahead and saw where she thought the thicket ended.  
"Come'on." She whispered and she quietly jogged up to the opening.  
Once they made it there she leaned over and peaked. What she saw was a freaked out, blue Pokemon with a brown shell and blueish-white fur.  
"Oh, it's just a Wartortle." She said, "It must have been scared by the howl too."  
She glanced at it one more time then looked at her Pokemon.  
"You know, since we have nothing but time. Why not try to strengthen your resistance to water-type moves. You don't get enough practice as it is."  
The Lampent gave another salute and they both looked at the Wartortle as it frantically searched in all directions.  
"Alright, ready... set... go!"  
The two of them jumped out and ran up to the Pokemon.  
"Lampent, Fire spin!"  
The hovering Pokemon quickly covered itself in red-hot flames and charged the Wartortle. Suddenly, a large black Houndoom lept out of the bushes and charged the Pokemon. Its teeth were cloaked with searing hot flames dripping out its mouth. Then, a smaller Pokemon came rushing in at speeds that made it almost invisible, heading straight for the Wartortle.  
Unsure of what was going on, the girl ran for her Pokemon and screamed, "Wait!"  
Then they all crashed into one another causing a massive explosion of power and heat. A large dust bowl covered the area with debris shooting in every direction. Everyone was knocked back and lying on the ground, visibility of their surroundings was nonexistent. As it began to clear up, a loud crashing sound was heard over a crackling fire.  
Dizzy and disoriented, the girl woke up on her side, laying there for what felt like minutes. In the distance she could hear a voice, but it was muffled and too hard to understand over the constant ringing in her ears. Slowly, she attempted to push herself up but with the wind was knocked out of her; she felt lightheaded and lost the strength in her arms. Her eyes were heavy, but she could barley manage to keep them open for a few seconds at a time, only to have dust fly into them.  
Then, there was the voice again. It sounded distant and quiet, but at the same time she could feel a person close by. Violently coughing, she opened her eyes once more, this time she could see a bit more clearly. She saw bright light, cast behind a shadowy figure.  
"Wha-" She wheezed out softly, then coughed.  
Again she heard the voice, it was starting to become clearer as her vision came back.  
"Am I dreaming?"  
Her eyes closed again and stayed that way for a few moments. Suddenly, her consciousness snapped back and she could see and hear properly. Right before her eyes was a teenage boy with long, dark-white hair and a black hoodie. Seizing all her focus was his intense, light-blue eyes and the sound of his voice as he screamed in her face.  
"Hey! Can you hear me? C'mon wake up! Hey! Hey!" The stranger yelled.  
"I CAN HEAR YOU, HOLY SHIT STOP SCREAMING!" She yelled, as the boy flinched in surprise.  
"What the fuck was that!" He asked and the girl looked at him with a confused, dirt covered face.  
Suddenly, she jolted up in realization and slammed her head into his.  
"Oww! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!" He yelled again as they both held their heads in pain.  
She quickly grabbed his shoulders and looked him in the eyes.  
"Lampent! My Pokemon, wher- Is he alright!?" She scrambled out the words in worry and gripped his bangs.  
"Your Pokemon's fine. It's right over there." The boy said aggravated as he pointed over to an unconscious Pokemon, lying on the ground with a blueish-purple flame burning inside its clear, spherical head.  
She let out a sigh of relief and went to quickly stand up.  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy." He eased with a surprisingly calm manner.  
The girl nodded and the boy held out his hand for her to grab onto. Suddenly, the girl groaned in pain and grabbed her right arm tightly.  
"Wait, lemme' see."  
He pulled the girls hand off, exposing a large, red burn in the middle of her arm.  
"Oh fuck!" The boy yelled and jumped up.  
"Don't move!" He commanded and took off, sprinting into the woods.  
As soon as the boy was out of sight, the girl yelped in pain. Holding her arm tight, she slowly struggled to stand up. Making it to her feet, she limped her way over to the unconscious ghost-Pokemon. Once there, she dropped back down and laid next to it. Then, she un-buckled her straps and slid her book bag off with a painful look.  
"Ahh, shit, that hurts." She said as she unzipped her bag and stuck her hand inside.  
Once there, she pulled out a small Pokeball, only this one had a dark green and black design with an orange outline around the center. She pushed the small button to enlarge it.  
"I'll heal you up in a bit, okay." She sniffled and a bright, red light beamed out the ball and sucked Lampent back inside "Just give me a second."  
After that, she shrank the ball, laid on her back breathing heavily, and rubbed the water out of her eyes. In front of her she could hear the crackle of a small fire, and looked over to see two trees completely uprooted and tipped over next to a few others that were set ablaze. Suddenly, there was a stomping noise behind her and she looked back to see the boy running with a handful of something. Panting and out of breath, the boy dropped down next to the girl and began to speak.  
"Let... me see... your arm." He said, gasping, as he dropped the handful of light-brown nuts on the ground and picked one up.  
The girl twitched in pain as she held out her burnt arm. After pulling out the knife on his waist, he sliced the fruit in half; inside was a slimy, green filling. He grabbed her arm, rubbing the gel-like substance on her burn. The tensed up expression and clenched fist she had slowly began to eased up as the boy rubbed it across the entire burn.  
"Do you feel anything?" He asked.  
"Yes. The pain is going away." She smiled, "It feels better."  
The boy gave a long exhale and muttered, "Okay."  
He sheathed his knife and stood up. The girl looked up at him as he scratched his head and fixed his ponytail.  
"So, what was all that about?" She asked and the boy looked down at her.  
"I should be the one asking you that. What the hell happened?"  
The girl looked down at her legs and reached over, pulling her thigh highs back up.  
"Well, I mean, we were making our way through the forest to the next town, but we got side tracked and lost our map. Then we wondered around for a while, trying to find our way back when we heard this Pokemon howl." She stopped to clear her throat then continued, "After that, we saw a Wartortle and I decided that it may be a good idea to work on Lampent's water resistance. We attacked, and next thing I know, two other Pokemon come rushing in out of nowhere. After that, everything's really blank, I can't really remember."  
The boy exhaled and examined the girl. She had a loose crop top that covered her top half. Her blue shorts were tight, and a black, long sleeve shirt was tied around her waist, covered in dirt along with most of her body. The burn on her arm went from a light-to-dark red, with the green, transparent gel still on it. The boy shook his head slowly, and reached out his hand.  
"Uh, can you walk?" He asked, and the girl nodded her head, grabbing his hand, in reply.  
He pulled her to her feet and she grabbed her bag, sliding it over her shoulder.  
"I guess you could come with me, I know a place not too far from here, you'll want to bring your Pokemon."


	2. Giving up the fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rayne and Lex get to know each other, then they fight a certain Pokemon

The boy dipped his finger in the cloudy, yellow liquid contained in a small, wooden bowl. The bowl was old and worn and the liquid had pulp floating inside it. He brought his finger up to his lips and closed them around it. The taste was bitter, but the texture was smooth and easy to swallow. After a few seconds, he pulled his finger out and brought the bowl down to an orange snout. Houndoom laid on the grass looking exhausted with its eyes closed.  
The boy nudged the Pokemon's head and spoke, "Drink."  
Sluggishly, Houndoom lifted its head, opening its small red eyes, and turned its head from the bowl in resistance.  
"Drink it." He said as he pulled on its horn, holding the bowl close to its mouth.  
Slowly, the Pokemon leaned in and began licking up the lemon-colored liquid out of the bowl. Curious, the long haired girl sat a few feet away watching the boy handle his Pokemon and rubbed her sleeping Lampent.  
They were in a familiar clearing where the boy had previously set up camp. Laid out in the middle of the clearing, next to the boy and Houndoom, was the grey towel, with four small piles of berries and a stained, wooden spoon on top of it. On the edge of the clearing was Riolu, sitting with its back leaned against a tree. Next to it was a gray book bag and a brown rope sitting on it. On the other side was the girl sitting back with her Lampent sleeping next to her. Her arm had a white bandage wrapped around where she was burnt.  
The cloudless sky was a dark blue and the sun's light was not as bright causing the forest to be shadier than before.  
"Again, thanks for everything you did. With my last potion gone, I can't imagine what I would've done." The girl said sweetly.  
The boy glanced over at her then lifted the near empty bowl from Houndoom, standing up.  
"I'll go get some wood for a fire." He replied as he placed the bowl on the towel and walked over to his bag.  
Flipping the flap open, he pulled out a brown bag and walked back to the towel. As he did, the girl sat up and crawled over to him. They both knelt down and the boy stared with a slightly confused face.  
"You know, you really know what you’re doing when it comes to plants and medicine. You knew exactly where to find these and what to do with them. Mind telling me what they are?" She asked curiously.  
The boy stared blankly at the girl, "Uh." then quickly snapped back, looking down at the berries.  
He reached down at the pile of tiny white berries all the way to the right and picked one up. About the size of a marble, he held it up in front of the girl.  
"This is a Kole berry. They're found growing inside thick bushes so they can be hard to spot. The clear juice it has is extremely potent and can knock you out in less than a minute. Lots of traveling doctors and herbalists use them for their patients who can't sleep or are taking medicine that requires them to rest." The boys voice was monotone and his words flowed as if he rehearsed them.  
The girl nodded her head and the boy grabbed the rest of the small fruits and poured them into the bag. She just noticed the thick, fading scar under his thumb as he reached down to the next pile.  
"These are Oran berries." he said as he pointed at four round, blue fruits, "They are commonly used all around the world to heal weakened Pokemon. I'm sure you've seen them before." He said as he picked them up and placed them in his bag.  
"I have." She replied.  
Next, he held up two bright yellow, oval shaped berries that were sitting on the towel.  
"Min berries, but they're mostly called 'Minutes'. They have similar effects to the Oran berry, except it’s bad for you if you or your Pokemon eat the skin of the fruit and they're more effective if used after a battle because of its ability to relieve stress and fatigue." He explained clearly, realizing how long it had been since he's spoken so many words to someone.  
In the last pile was three brown, egg shaped nuts with hard shells. The girl stared at them carefully, tilting her head, then picked one of them up.  
"These are the ones you used on my burn right?" She asked as she examined it.  
The boy nodded and replied, "Rintia nuts. A very rare and valuable fruit that contains gel that can heal most any kind of burn in less than a day."  
"Hhmm." She hummed as she stared, then looked at the boy.  
"That's awesome, how did you learn all this?"  
The boy looked into the girl's light purple eyes as they stared at him with intense curiosity.  
"I was taught." He said in a dry tone looking down.  
"Who taught you?"  
"You know, you ask alot of fucking questions." He said sternly as he placed the Rintia nuts in the full paper bag.  
"Oops, sorry. I have a habit of prying, did I piss you off?" She said plainly as she placed the last nut in the bag and retreated a bit.  
The boy sat still for a moment, then he gripped the bag tight and brought it over to his book bag, where he then folded the top and placed it inside.  
"Tff.", he scoffed as he turned around, "No."  
The girl stood up and faced the boy, "I think I might have.", she giggled.  
The boy placed his hands in his hoodie pocket and began walking away from the girl.  
As he passed the first two trees he spoke loud enough for her to hear, "Uhuh."  
The girl skipped forward and paced herself behind him, "I'll help get wood."  
She couldn't see but his eyes were sharp and his face was somewhat desolate as he sighed.  
He passed the sleeping Lampent and glanced back at it noticing she was kneeling down to give it a kiss on the head.  
He watched her and cleared his throat.  
"Lampent, right?" He asked.  
The girl turned around and spoke up, "Yeah that's right."  
"Never had much experience with ghost-types."  
The girl giggled and walked up next to the boy.  
"Well if you ever feel an interest, I'm your girl. I've been in love with ghost-type Pokemon since I was little, along with the professor that lived in my hometown."  
"Professor?"  
"Yep, Professor Victoria Burmis, but I always knew her as Miss Vic. She was close friends with my parents because my mother and her met when they were Pokemon trainers and became best friends. Like me, she was fascinated by ghost Pokemon and wanted to learn all there was to know and understand how and why they do the things they do. She had a very open mind and never doubted the possibility of spiritual interaction with the physical plane, even before it was backed by science. Of course she also shares the dream to have a complete Pokemon guide with all the information on every Pokemon. So, she set me up with Lampent and gave me a Pokedex. Then I set off to conquer all eight of the region’s gyms!"  
A moment went by as the girl realized her enthusiasm caused her to look up into the sky and raise a fist in the air. Then she slumped down and looked at the ground.  
"That, of course, was two years ago and I still have yet to collect a single badge."  
After coming down from her rant, she noticed that the boy infront of her seemed uninterested in what she was saying and nodded his head before turning towards the woods.  
With a playful grin, she placed her hand on her hip and giggled, "It's okay to laugh, most people probably could have got at least three or four in that amount of time."  
"Yeah." He murmured just barely loud enough for her to hear.  
Feeling the awkward tension building between the two strangers as he slowly trudged away, the dark-skinned girl cleared her throat and changed the subject.  
"I said I'll help you!"  
Behind him he could hear the girl catch up and walk close by.  
"Oh, I nearly forgot. We haven't even told each other our names yet."  
The boy bent over grabbing a pair of long, thick sticks and scanned his surrounding for more wood.  
"Well, go ahead." He said fluidly.  
"Oh, okay. My name is Rayne."  
"Rayne." He said, testing the word out on his lips.  
"My last name is Cloud."  
The boy stopped grabbing a log and looked at the girl, "Rayne… Cloud... you're serious?"  
The girl placed her hand on a tree and leaned down grabbing a decent sized piece of wood and exposing the dark red bra hidden under her already revealing crop top, causing him to quickly divert his attention.  
Noticing the sharp movement, Rayne replied with a sassy tone, "Yeah, funny right. It's a blessing, and a curse." and walked ahead of him.  
"I guess."  
The two walked further into the woods, grabbing big logs and small sticks.  
"What about you? Do you have a name or should I make one up for you?"  
The boy held all of his sticks with one arm and scratched his head with the other.  
"Lex" He said with a low tone.  
"Hhmm... well nice to meet you Lex." She said with a smile and held out her hand, holding all of her sticks with one arm.  
Lex glanced at the girls face and noticed her hand. It had a tight, fingerless, black glove on with rips all around it. He extended his scarred hand and shook it while looking away. After shaking for a few moments, then releasing, Rayne noticed that Lex was a few inches shorter than her, making him around five-seven. Ten minutes of collecting wood and rocks later, the two put together a camp fire in the clearing just as the woods began to darken.  
"Houndoom, do you mind?" Lex asked pointing at the ring of grey stones and pile of sticks.  
Houndoom stood up and tramped over to it. Suddenly, he opened his mouth and out came a shot of bright fire, igniting the wood and setting it ablaze. The flame gave an orange glow that was big enough to illuminate most of the clearing, and expose some of the woods.  
Rayne laid her bundle of stick down next to the rocks and flinched, "What's that smell?"  
"Houndoom's are full of toxins that travel with their fire. It kinda stinks like that but you get used to it." Lex said as he walked over to his bag.  
"Oh, is that why you reacted the way you did over my burn?"  
Lex's face burrowed, "Huh?"  
"Well I noticed that the burn I got wasn't all that serious and would've probably been fine on its own." She explained, looking down at her arm.  
"Amazing." He replied sarcastically.  
"Ha." She spit, giving him the finger as he laid back, "I was just saying that for a guy that clearly knows a think or two about medicine and injuries, you reacted kind of... dramatically."  
"What's your point?"  
"My point is, I'm curious as to why you would give such an intense reaction to such a minor injury."  
"Your curiosity is annoying." He sighed, unlacing his boots.  
"I know." She smirked.  
Getting his first boot off, he sat up and ran his hand through his bangs, "Like I said, toxins travel with Doom's flames. More-so whenever he's pissed, if they burn a person, the burn will never heal, and the pain at that moment will almost definitely last for the rest of your life."  
"Oh..." She whispered, turning behind her to her Pokemon.  
"Of course that doesn't apply to Pokemon."  
"Really, I didn't know any of that." She said, seemingly reassured.  
"Well now you know." He groaned as the other boot slipped off his foot.  
"So, subject change, you were trying to capture that Wartortle today, weren't you?" Rayne asked as she sat next to the Lampent, who's bluish-purple glow was getting brighter as the night approached.  
"What tipped you off?" He asked sarcastically.  
"Well you- Wait, that was sarcastic wasn't it?"  
"Yeah." He said as he grabbed his hoodie at the back and pulled it over his head with a grunt.  
"Dick." She said, watching as the boy's muscle toned lower-back and waist were exposed for a moment.  
Lex pulled on his dark blue tank top, fixing it, then tossed his hoodie next to Riolu. He turned his head, glancing at the girl then pushed himself up. He made his way to the grey towel and grabbed his bowl off it.  
"This is for you." He said as he patted it down and dusted off any dirt or leaves that were on it.  
She nodded her head and picked up her bag, walking over to the towel and dropping it on the end.  
"About six days." He said after clearing his throat.  
Rayne looked over curiously as he began cleaning his wooden bowl, "What?"  
"I've been trying to capture that Wartortle for about six days now." He said.  
Lex opened his bag and placed the bowl in it, then pulled out a small, clear bag with something inside. As he did, Rayne dropped down on the towel and laid her head back on the bag, looking up at the darkening orange sky. Lex then reached inside the plastic bag and pulled out two, long pieces of dehydrated meat, and placed one in his mouth. He put the other in the bag and tossed it at Rayne. It landed on her stomach giving her a jump.  
"What's this?" She asked.  
"Miltank jerky." The boy replied with the food in his mouth, "It's good."  
The girl reached down and grabbed the bag, pulling out the tender strip of meat. She looked at the boy and opened her mouth, biting into the jerky. As she did, Lex noticed something shiny on her tongue.  
"Mmmm, this is good. Thanks." She praised while chewing.  
"What was that on your tongue?" He asked the girl as she gulped down the jerky.  
"What?"  
"Your tongue. There was something there."  
The girl looked confused, then suddenly realized what he was talking about, "Ooh, my tongue piercing."  
She stuck her tongue out, showing a small, silver ball stuck in the middle with another ball below it.  
"See. I got it before I left, just like my mom and Miss Vic."  
"Didn't notice it before." He said with a low tone and took another bite out of his food.  
Rayne grinned and did the same, then spoke earnestly, "Hey I'm sorry if I'm too pushy sometimes, alot of friends from my hometown always told me I had a habit of casually invading people's personal space. They called it an 'overactive curiosity'. I really do appreciate you helping me here."  
"It's fine. I just don't talk to people much nowadays... Plus I'm a bit of an asshole."  
With a cute giggle, Rayne pushed the braids out her face and replied, "That's not the impression I got. So why have you been trying to catch a Wartortle in the forest for six days?"  
The boy looked over at her with a stern look and questioned, "Why? You trying to steal it?"  
The girl snorted and laughed, "No, I'm just curious."  
"Sure... it’s 'cause that particular Pokemon is extremely resilient, adaptable, and strong. I want him on my team." He said smoothly.  
The girl nodded her head, "Fair enough. What made you realize he was strong though?"  
Lex glanced behind her and saw Houndoom fast asleep then he looked to his left to fine Riolu laid out on his hoodie, holding its scarf.  
"Because it's the only Pokemon that lives in the lake nearby." He replied.  
The girl thought about that for a few seconds, then spoke again, "But what if he's just the only water-type Pokemon living in the lake."  
"If that was the case, I would have kept walking, but it just so happens that there are three lakes in this forest and the other two are overflowing with water-type Pokemon. Meaning that he was strong enough to kill or kick out every other wild Pokemon in that lake, and based on our previous battles, I wouldn't deny that possibility."  
"Hhmm." She hummed, her face seeming somewhat sorrowful, "That seems lonely."  
"I guess." He responded softly as he finished off his jerky and laid back on the ground.  
A couple of minutes flowed by as Lex wrapped his hair tie around his wrist allowing his bangs to drop over his eyes and the rest of the uneven hair to cover his book bag. Slowly, the fire they made became brighter until eventually it was night and all they could see was the orange glow of the clearing. The air was surprisingly warm as chirps from the forest Pokemon got louder and more diverse; Lex got up and poked at the fire with a stick, tossing a few more logs in. As he did, Rayne sat up and stared into the blank darkness in the forest, then turned her head and looked at Lex.  
"So where are you headed after this?" She asked.  
"Barren town."  
Suddenly, the girls eyes widened and her face perked up with excitement, "Hey! That's where I was headed too. Maybe we should go there together."  
"Why? Because your lost and hopeless and won't be able to find your way out without my help or a map?" Lex said with a smirk grin.  
"Wow…Yup, that’s pretty much the entire reason." Rayne agreed. "Though, even with a map I don't think I could get out."  
The boy's grin soon dispersed and he let out a sigh, "I don't really travel with others?" He said as he stood up.  
Her excitement dissipating, she spoke with a defeated tone, "Oh, yeah I wouldn't want to get it your way."  
His blue eyes glanced over the girl's face, noticing her freckles when he saw the pouty expression she now held. He looked down as an awkward silence sunk over the camp.  
The internal conflict in the boys mind was finally resolved as he spoke, "But I guess we can make a deal."  
Her eyes shot up from her knees when she heard him.  
"Considering that I lost that Wartortle today because of you, you owe me for it."  
Rayne looked up at the boy and rolled her eyes.  
"And for the food and medicine and the camp and blah, blah, blah I get it. I'll pay you back for everything." She replied with the first annoyed tone she'd showed.  
The boy’s eyes got sharp and his face looked confused, "No, you don't owe me for any of that. The food and medicine was because it was my Pokemon that caused you both harm back there, so don't worry about it."  
The girl’s face looked intrigued by the boy's response, as if she didn't expect it, "Oh."  
"Anyway, that Wartorlte’s back in his lake, where he has every advantage and can't be beaten by either of my Pokemon. That's why it has taken this long, we can only fight him on fair ground when he leaves the lake in search of food. But by the looks of things, you have Pokemon that don't require ground to move around, correct?" The boy spoke with a different kind of tone than his normal one.  
This tone and his awkward body language seemed more like he wanted something very badly and he was actually trying to talk.  
"Yeah, that's right. I have one other ghost-type with me as well." She said.  
"Perfect." Lex said and clapped his hands together, "Then here it is, yo-"  
Suddenly, the girl spoke up cutting Lex off, "You help me capture the Wartortle with your Pokemon and I'll show you the way to Barren." She said in a voice mimicking Lex's, while holding her hands up to mimic his stance.  
"Is that what you were going to say? If so, you can stop the bargaining act. It's cute, but it makes you seem less cool." She said quickly as Lex stood there dumbfounded.  
After a few seconds, Lex snapped back into his regular mood and spoke in his low, uninterested tone, "Fine, then you know what we're doing tomorrow."  
"Yep." She said with a smile, "This is exciting."  
"Yeah, sure. I'm going to sleep now. If you wake up, make sure to fill the fire up with wood or we'll both wake up in an Ariados web." He cautioned as he laid down.  
The girl's grin disappeared and she turned and spoke very seriously, "Wait.... Ariados?"  
"Yeah, they always come out at night and hunt other bug Pokemon. Who’s to say they can't hunt us too."  
Suddenly, as Lex was fixing his bag and getting comfortable, he went to lay back and looked in front of him for a second to find Rayne squatting down next to him with only an inch between their faces.  
"WHA- TH- FUCK!!" Lex yelled and jumped back with a startled look on his face.  
Rayne was grinning and spoke with a chipper tone, "Hey Lex, make sure the fire doesn't go out tonight, 'kay."  
Lex's leaned back and his voice was shaky, "Yeah, no problem."  
"Okay." She said happily and patted him on the shoulder, "See you in the morning, partner."  
She stood up and walked over to her towel laying down facing away from Lex.  
Lex was laying there still and slowly lowered his hand and closed his eyes with a sigh, "Today was not the day."

The following morning...  
"Hellooo. Leeex. Good morning Lex. Heeeey, wake uuup. Wake up now..." Rayne's voice was soft as she shook the sleeping boy.  
"Wake the fuck up Lex!" She said less softly.  
Suddenly, Lex bolted up and slammed his head into Rayne's.  
"Oww, what the hell!" They both shouted in unison as they rubbed their heads.  
After they did, Houndoom rose from where he slept with a long yawn. The girl sat back with a pained expression, then looked at Lex, noticing his hand as it let go of his knife's handle. The only thing different about Rayne's appearance was that she didn't have her hair tied up or the shirt tied around her waist; it was lying next to her bag on the towel. He noticed her braids were medium-length, reaching down to her shoulders, with two or three infront her eye.  
"Good morning to you too." She said with a chuckle.  
The boy rubbed his eye and looked at her, "Can we not do that anymore."  
Lex sat up off the ground and stretched out, looking up at the clear blue sky.  
His voice was low and drowsy as he yawned through his words, "What time is it?"  
The girl stood up and walked over to her bag, "Let me see."  
She unzipped one of her side pockets and pulled out a small red rectangular device. It had a blue light bulb on the top left corner. She used her thumb to flip open the front of the metal device, exposing a number of buttons, a small screen, and several small holes for a speaker. She pressed two of the buttons and the screen came on along with the blue light.  
"It is exactly 7:14, Saturday morning. You’re looking at clear skies with highs in the low eighties and lows in the upper sixties." She conveyed with a playful voice.  
Lex dropped his head back on his bag and groaned, "You woke me up at seven in the morning?"  
"Well what time do you usually wake up? Trust me, I can tell you’re not a morning person, but still, it took me five minutes to get you to even budge." Rayne said as she closed her device and stuck it back in her bag.  
She wouldn't mention the restless tossing and sweating.  
With his eyes closed, he pointed at Rayne and replied, "What was the time and weather thingy? I've seen it before."  
"Oh that, it was a Pokedex. It automatically records data on Pokemon I catch or encounter, like a hi-tech Pokemon encyclopedia. You saw somebody with one before because pretty much everyone has one." She said letting a small chuckle escape and turned around, pulling up the strap on her crop top.  
"Oh... Yeah, right."  
As the boy ran his hand through his hair and scratched it, he stood up and shook Riolu to get off his hoodie.  
Rayne stared at him curiously for a few moments before speaking, "You really don't get around people much do you?"  
"Huh?" He said sternly and lifted his hoodie, dusting it off.  
"Well your a Pokemon trainer that didn't know what the most basic trainer item was. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you lived in the woods." She declared as she moved her bag and began rolling the towel up in a cylinder  
He looked over at her as he stuck his hands into the hoodie and slipped it over his head, fitting perfectly, "Yeah I do sometimes, I guess it's just easiler for me that way."  
After that, he grabbed his rope and walked over to the dumbfound girl with the wrapped up towel. Oblivious to her uncertain stare, he took the towel and began wrapping the rope around, tying it into a knot.  
"So, why don’t you bring out the Pokemon you’re going to use. It'll be good to get acquainted." He said as he lifted the towel and brought it over to his bag.  
"Ok, no problem."  
She grabbed her bag and unzipped the main compartment. Reaching her hand in, she shuffled around some things until finally she found what she was looking for. In her hand as she lifted it out of the bag was four small Pokeballs. Two of them she held in one hand and were the regular red and white color, but in the other two were dark green and black Pokeballs. She pressed all four of their buttons, enlarging them, and threw them into the air.  
"Come on out guys!" She shouted as all four of them opened in unison, each shooting a bright, white light at the ground and materializing into a Pokemon.  
Out of the two regular Pokeballs came two green, reptilian Pokemon: Treecko and Larvitar. Out of the Dusk balls came the well-rested Lampent, looking full of energy as it spun around in the air and a pink, jelly-fish like Frillish. The Frillish had a round head with a crown-like tuft on top, along with five tentacle-like appendages. It had blue, oval eyes with a red sclera, white pupils and curled eyelashes. The white collar grown around its neck contrasted the rest of it's bright pink, wavy body as undulated through the air next to Lampent; it appeared to be smiling.  
She barely caught all four of the Pokeballs as the fell down and shrank them, placing them back in the bag. Then, she zipped the bag back up and turned around, placing her hands in her jean shorts pockets.  
"This is the rest of the family: Treecko, Larvitar and Frillish. Say 'hi' you guys, these are some friends of mine we'll be fighting with today." She said with a cheerful tone.  
After she did, the Larvitar lifted one of its long, fingerless arms and waved it with a smile and the Frillish hummed in a high tone. The Treecko simply yawned and dropped to all fours, trudging away to fight a place to lay down.  
The boy nodded his head and pointed at Houndoom, who was lying next to them.  
"That's Houndoom" He said and pointed to his other Pokemon who was sitting up next to a tree, holding its blue scar, "and that's Riolu."  
"They’re both pleased to meet you." He phrased with an ironical tone.  
"Alright, everyone's here. So what's the plan?" Rayne asked as she picked up her shirt and tied it around her waist.  
Lex folded his arm and stared at her Pokemon, deep in thought.  
"Okay, what type is your Frillish?"  
"Well, she's a ghost-types, but she's also water." She replied.  
"Perfect, here's the plan."

Twenty minutes later...  
"You ready?" Lex asked as he slipped his book bag strap onto his shoulder and looked over at Rayne.  
Rayne was zipping up her bag as Frillish and Lampent floated past her towards Houndoom, who was rubbing his horns against a tree. Close to them was Larvitar, who was reaching for Riolu's scarf, but he simply leaned away each time until he finally smacked its hand down, causing it to look down with saddened eyes. Treecko was nowhere to be seen.  
Rayne glanced over the empty clearing, and then turned to Lex, noticing his old, worn-down bag.  
"Yeah, we're good. Dude you seriously need a new book bag." She joked.  
"Yeah, I know." He muttered and reached back, pulling his hair into a loose, top-knot ponytail, but leaving several strands running down his neck and in front of his eyes.  
"Let's get moving." He said as he began walking into the woods, followed by everyone else.  
The morning breeze whistled through the trees with a soft, outdoor scent. Beams of light shot through the canopy as the leaves shook and fell to the ground. The seven slowly traversed the forest, following the same path they did the day before. After many minutes of walking, Lex spotted the clearing up ahead where the lake was and stopped the group.  
"Alright you know what to do." He whispered to Rayne.  
"Got it." She replied as her and her Pokemon broke off to the left, headed straight for the lake.  
Rayne and Larvitar made their way around a heavy thicket between the trees as Lampent and Frillish hovered above. Once they made it to the clearing, they examined the small lake for a few seconds, watching the small ripples and falling leaves.  
Rayne crouched down in the edge of the forest and looked over at Frillish, "Okay girl, you got this. Go get 'em."  
In responce to her words, the pink Frillish hummed her way over to the edge of the lake and stared down into it. A few seconds passed as it slowly inched its way into the water, sinking below the surface. Once it was completely submerged, Rayne was still as she watched the water with focused eyes. For nearly three minutes, not a sound was made other than the rustle of the trees as the wind blew through it.  
Then, a loud splash right in the middle of the lake. It was Frillish quickly darting over the water, with something chasing it close behind. It was difficult to see, but it looked like a smooth blue head above the surface, inching its way closer to Frillish.  
Suddenly, just as Frillish frantically hovered onto land, the Pokemon chasing her, jetted out of the water and went to grab her. Turning her head, just in time to see the Wartortle flying at her, Frillish's face went from fear to relief when a distorted, shadowy blob slammed against the Pokemon's side, knocking it out of the way.  
Then, out of the forest came Rayne, Lampent and Larvitar as she pointed at the Wartortle and shouted, "Lampent, Confuse Ray!"  
Suddenly, Lampent brought its arms together and launched a sinister, yellow ray at the recuperating Pokemon. Once it hit him, the Wartortle began stumbling around with crossed eyes. It opened its mouth, launching a barrage of a blue bubbles into the forest. It was then slammed in the back by a familiar pair of horns that threw the shelled Pokemon across the ground. It was Houndoom. He stopped himself to let Riolu run up on his back and jump off his head.  
"Force Palm, Riolu!" Lex shouted as he ran up behind Houndoom.  
As Riolu descended on the Pokemon, he held his arm back, preparing to thrust it forward. Just before it made contact, Riolu slammed its paw down smashing the ground with tremendous force as the Wartortle dodged out of the way. Quickly getting it composure, it’s scanned its surroundings. In front of it were Riolu and Houndoom, along with Lex. Too its side, in front of the lake, was the floating Frillish and Larvitar and behind it were Rayne and Lampent.  
Utterly outnumbered, the Wartortle took in a deep breath and stood ready. The first few moments of silence since the battle began went by as Lex and Rayne glanced at each other. Rayne saw Lex hold his hand up by his side with three fingers held up. Slowly, he brought down one finger, then the next. Once the final finger was brought down, he and Rayne shouted commands to their Pokemon.  
"Riolu, Quick Attack!"  
"Larvitar, Chip Away."  
After that, Riolu sprinted at the Wartortle at extremely high speed that made it look like it was in three places at once. As he did, Larvitar grinned maliciously and putting all of its focus on the turtle Pokemon's movements. Wartortle stood focused on Riolu and tucked its head in leaning back, then went to smash it head on with its shell, but Riolu quickly sidestepped the attack and rammed the Pokemon on its side, pushing it a few feet. Then, the Wartortle spun around, opening its mouth for a water attack, but was stopped short by Larvitar as it slammed its head into the ground after appearing out of nowhere. Grabbing Larvitar's arm, the blue Pokemon strained to lift it off the ground, then spun around, throwing it at Riolu. After the two slammed into each other, Wartortle turned its head to Frillish and opened its mouth.  
"Hey, watch out!" Lex yelled.  
"Frillish!" Rayne shouted a second too late as her Pokemon was met with a large volume of water, pushing her back into the lake.  
"Damnit. Houndoom grab him." Lex said as the Pokemon made a run for the lake.  
Just as it was about to jump in the water, Wartortle made a loud screeching sound as Houndoom sunk his teeth into its blueish-white tail. Houndoom then took a step and threw the Pokemon back in the direction of the forest. Slamming against a thick tree, Wartortle laid there for a moment, then quickly pushed itself up and stood on all fours. Both stared at each other, growling savagely with their fangs exposed. As Riolu, Larvitar, and Frillish recovered, they all came back to see Houndoom and Wartortle walking slowly in a circle, ready to strike at any second.  
After a few seconds, suddenly Wartortle shot out a large amount of pressurized water at Houndoom.  
"Dodge it!" Lex shouted and Houndoom jumped out the way as the water beamed by in the direction of Rayne and Lampent.  
"Oh shit!" She yelped as they both dodged the jet of water.  
"Flamethrower!" The boy yelled as Houndoom opened its mouth.  
Out of its mouth came an intense blast of unstable fire, shooting straight at Wartortle, engulfing it in flames. After a few seconds, the Wartortle jumped out of the flames unshaken.  
"Hit him again!" He said and, following his command, Houndoom launched another powerful blast of scorching hot flames at Wartortle.  
This time, Wartortle withdrew into its shell, protecting itself from the flames. After they subsided, Wartortle came out of its shell. Red and brown eyes locked on each other, they both took one small step toward one another. Then, Wartorlte's tail began glowing a bright blue.  
"Thunder Fang!" Lex yelled as Houndoom barked furiously with yellow sparks of electricity in its mouth.  
The two charged each other quickly and Wartortle jumped in the air, swunging its tail around like a mighty wave as water materialized around it. Once the Pokemon's tail collided with Houndoom's jaw, there was a small explosion of power and a cloud of dust covered them both.  
"Woah." Rayne marveled as the dust whipped up in the wind.  
After it began to clear up, the two stood next to each other with their gazes still locked. Both were panting heavily and stood with shaky legs. Wartortle examined its surroundings, first looking at the group of Pokemon behind Houndoom that he would soon have to fight, then at its lake. After a few seconds, it glanced over at Lex with a sharp stare.  
"Finally give up?" He whispered to himself and reached behind his belt.  
On the right side was three small, red and white Pokeballs. He grabbed the ball farthest to the left.  
Unclipping it, enlarging it, and throwing it all in one motion, the ball flew through the air and bounced off the Wartortle's head, opening up with a bright red light that shot out and touched it. After it dematerialized and was sucked in, the ball dropped down and shook a bit. With a cold sweat running down Lex's neck and wide eyes of nervous anticipation on Rayne, they all watched silently for several seconds as the Pokeball shook until suddenly, it laid there motionless.  
Rayne looked over at Lex with a smile as he walked up to the ball, Riolu and Houndoom following behind. He stopped and picked it up. They all stood their silently as Rayne’s joyful expression turned into a confused one.  
"Le-" Rayne started, but was suddenly cut off by the boy and his Pokemon's shouting.  
"FUCK YEAH!" The boy yelled with a wide smile as Riolu jumped backwards in the air and Houndoom began howling. Without a moment's delay, the boy shrank the ball and clipped it to the back of his belt and dropped his bag. The girl watched as Lex made easy work of his hoodie and tank top, throwing them on the ground along with his boots, and diving into the water. With a blank expression of shock and confusion, Rayne stood there, not sure what to say or do as Houndoom followed Lex into the water with a loud splash.  
After a few seconds, Lex came up on the water and yelled again, "WE FINALLY FUCKING DID IT!"  
Rayne snorted and began laughing hysterically as Riolu sat at the edge of the lake, dipping his feet in the water and holding his scarf. Frillish hummed as she hovered above the water with Lampent and Larvitar did a little dance.  
"Wow." She said to herself, still chuckling here and there.  
Houndoom doggy paddled across the lake as the topless Lex swam backwards, then stopped and simply floated. Rayne walked up to the edge of the lake and sat down next to Riolu, watching the Pokemon play and the boy swim.  
After a couple of minutes, Lex gave a long exhale and looked over at Houndoom, "Come on Doom."  
As he and Houndoom began swimming back to shore, Rayne reached over to Lex's bag and unbuckled the top flap, grabbing the tied up towel, and began untying it. Once they made it, Houndoom crawled up onto the grass and shook its body wildly, sending water flying everywhere. Lex reached up and took his band out his hair, letting it drop down as he walked up to Rayne and shook his head just as wildly as Houndoom.  
"Oh- Jeez thanks." She said as she was rained upon by Lex's wet hair, "So how was the water?"  
Lex looked down at her and saw she was holding up his grey towel. Unsure of how to respond, he grabbed the towel from her hand and began rubbing it wildly on his head.  
"Sorry. We made a vow that once we captured that beast we would immediately jump in its lake." He explained as he went from his head to his arms, "Guess we got a bit carried away."  
"No, I enjoyed it."  
He shivered around and began rubbing the towel around his waist and back. The girl examined him: from his soaking wet, dark black pants, up his defined, slim, slightly tanned upper body, to his wet, messy gray hair. As she did, she noticed something she didn't see before; what she saw was a huge, dark scar expanding down the center of his back and almost covering it from end to end. Her face went serious and her eyes softened as she stared at the rough, warped skin. Lex shook his leg and turned back around like he was going to say something, but stopped when he saw the girls face.  
"What is it?" He said an insecure tone of voice.  
Startled, she collected her words and spoke, "Oh, nothing. You know, you should probably wash your clothes after swimming in that lake."  
Lex grinned and tossed the towel on his bag, sitting next to it, "Yeah, I really should have thought that through a bit more before jumping. But hey, now I don't have to worry about a shower once we get to town."  
"No I'd definitely keep showers on the to-do-list." Rayne laughed as Lex let one more smile creep out before looking out at the lake and watching the sun rise over the trees.  
The two sat there for a few minutes just watching the beauty of nature as the trees danced with the wind and the water flowed, reflecting the shine of the sun. After another breeze passed the two, the bushes to their left began to shake as a small green Pokemon walked out on two legs stretching its arms.  
"Wow! Now you decide to show up? You know we needed you in that battle the most right?" She said sounding aggravated.  
The little Treecko simply glanced at the girl, then turned, climbing the first tree it found with ease.  
"Lazy. Little. Shit." She said slowly to herself.  
Lex got a sudden shiver and looked over at Rayne.  
"Oh." He said as he moved his bag to the side and scooched next to her, "I forgot to take this off."  
Rayne looked down at the white bandage, then at Lex. Seeing him up close not only surprised her, but it also gave her a more detailed view of him. As expected, his body was in prime condition. Firm, well-toned arms and chest combined with his lean figure gave him an advantage in attractiveness, but to her surprise, the boy had very little body hair in regular places like his chest, stomach, and face, except for his somewhat bushy eyebrows and two-toned chin hair. His body was damp and cold, smelling of dirty lake and 'trainer spirit'. His dripping wet hair sunk downward with unrestrained freedom as to where it fell: in front his eyes, down his neck; even if it stood straight up, Lex wouldn’t care.  
Rayne adjusted her thigh high and stuttered, "Oh sorry, yeah go ahead." as she held up her arm.  
Lex unwrapped the bandage several times before revealing her perfectly fine, unburnt skin. His hands were rough and quick, every movement seemed to be the most efficient one to complete the task at hand, like he had practiced it a hundred times. They were also cold, and the fingers themselves were long and bony, every knuckle stood out like a hard stone in his hand. Once he pulled the bandage completely off, the only thing left on her skin was a few marks from where the bandage was originally wrapped.  
"There." He muttered as he wrapped the bandage up and placed it in his bag.  
Rayne stared at her arm, admiring the fact there was nothing there.  
"Wow, that's amazing, it's as if it never happened. Thank you." She said cheerfully, then caught Lex's icy eyes with her own.  
Lex froze for a second, then quickly retreated, scratching his soft hair nervously and turned his head, "Don't mention it."  
She noticed that.  
Pushing off the ground, the boy stood up and walked away from Rayne, toward his tank top and hoodie and picked them up, knocking the small blades of grass off. She watched the water drip off his back and gave one last sorrowful stare at the intense burn scar on his back before he spoke.  
"You should head back to the camp, I can lead us down the proper path toward Barren from there." He said openly and turned around, flipping his tank top on.  
"Think you can make it without getting lost?" He sassed sarcastically.  
"Ha. Ha, yeah get your jokes in." She said as she stood up from the ground and dusted her bottom off, "It's pretty straightforward from here, I'll be able to make it. What about you?"  
Lex slipped his arms through his hoodie and pulled it down on him, tugging on the sleeves to get it right. Then, he reached behind him and unclipped a Pokeball from the back of his belt.  
"I've gotta' take care of something first." He said as he casually tossed the small ball in the air a few times.  
The girl nodded and reached in her bag, pulling out her three Pokeballs and enlarging them.  
"Come on back guys." She said as a red beam of light left each one of them and landed on Frillish, Larvitar, and Lampent.  
Once each one was returned to their balls, Rayne put them back in the bag and picked it up. She pulled her tank top strap up and looked over at Lex.  
"See you soon." She said as she flipped the bag's strap over her right shoulder and trekked into the forest, Treecko close behind.  
Lex stood there, waiting until he could no longer hear Rayne's footsteps as Houndoom and Riolu both walked up to him. After a few more seconds, Lex looked down at them and tossed the ball in the air one more time. With a deep breath, he pressed the button to enlarge the Pokeball and looked at it in his hand.  
"Here we go." He said in a low tone.  
Then he threw the ball, underhand, into the air and it opened up, shooting a white light down a few yards from him, materializing into Wartortle. Wartortle stood up on two legs, looking with a blank expression as Lex caught the ball and held it down in his hand.  
"Boo." Lex said, and the blue Pokemon's blank expression quickly turned into an aggressive one.  
A low growl could be heard coming from the Wartortle as it looked to the side of the boy, seeing Houndoom sitting up, its dark fur clearly wet, and Riolu, standing with its arms crossed.  
"Hey!" Lex said more sternly, "Look."  
Lex pointed to his right showing the Wartortle that he was standing right next to his beloved lake. Its angered expression slowly faded away and his brown eyes widened. He instinctively took a step forward, but quickly stopped himself when he heard Lex approaching from his right.  
"Wait, just hear me out." He said with a calm tone.  
He walked up to the tense Pokemon slowly, with his left hand held up. Wartortle watched his every movement carefully: how fast he blinked, how far each step was, his breathing rate, but especially his hands. He was waiting for Lex to attack or make any sudden movement so he could counter it as fast as possible until suddenly, he did make a move. Lex had crouched down a few feet away from him and sat, placing his hands in his lap.  
Unsure how to respond, Wartortle remained cautious and scanned his surroundings for the other Pokemon, but what he saw was that Houndoom and Riolu hadn't moved from where they were; they stayed there watching them.  
"You can relax now, you're not in any danger." Lex said calmly, and stared into Wartortle's eyes.  
After checking his surroundings one last time, the tenseness in Wartortle loosened up. It stood there watching the boy, glancing at his lake every few seconds.  
Lex watched him for a few moments, then loosened up himself, lying back in the grass with his left arm behind his head.  
With a deep exhale, the boy spoke, "You know, at first I thought it was your incredible strength that made me want to catch you so bad. I mean, I'll be honest, it was what made me notice you." Lex took a breathe before continuing, "However, when I first saw you alone in this lake after having seen the other two, I realized just how much you must have had to go threw to get that strong and I couldn't help but feeling sympathetic. I mean after just battling with you the first time and seeing your combat skills, I knew for sure that I wanted you on my team. But after seeing you here now, and thinking about it, maybe that's not the real reason."  
Wartortle listened carefully to the boy's words as he spoke, never looking him in the eye, but instead at his lake.  
"Maybe, the real reason was because you were alone. Maybe deep down, I don't want to see others suffer if I can do something about it. I may have a soft spot for Pokemon who are left alone for one reason or another. I mean, it wouldn't necessarily surprise me."  
Lex sat up and looked at Wartortle. The Pokemon was staring strongly at its lake, with several tears rolling down its face, but it never made a sound.  
"You don't have to be alone anymore. What happened to you today was not a horrible thing. It’s time to let go of that fight, it's over. No more pushing everyone away. Start a new course. One with us, with people you can trust are looking out for you."  
A short smile grew on his face as Wartortle finally looked up at him, tears still falling down his cheeks.  
Lex held out his hand and spoke, "What do ya' say? You in?"  
Wartortle glanced behind Lex and saw Houndoom still sitting as he turned his head and Riolu who gave him a nod. Then, he stomped up to Lex and lifted his claw, shaking his hand firmly.  
"Well alright then." He said softly and released his hand, standing up.  
Wartortle wiped its eyes clean and straightened his posture, standing next to Lex.  
"Houndoom, Riolu, this is our new family member, Wartortle." He said pointing at Wartortle, who had a surprisingly stern expression.  
"Wartortle. This is the rest of the family." He said pointing at Houndoom and Riolu, who both simply stared at him, then looked away.  
"Honestly, I think you're gonna' fit in." He said as he turned around and walked to his bag.  
"Let’s get out of here. Sooner we get to town, the sooner we can eat." He said as the three Pokemon followed closely behind.


	3. A stranger appears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lex has a pokemon battle and a new character is introduced

"Slow?" Rayne asked with a curious tone.  
"Yeah. That, and they didn't seem to be fighting at their full potential. I may not know much about ghost-types but-..." Lex's words slowly faded as he stopped on the leaf covered path.  
In front of him, down the path, was bright sunshine and a large gap among the trees. It was the edge of the forest. Rayne's boots crunched against the leaves on the ground as she walked up ahead of Lex and looked where he was looking. A smile grew across her face and she gave a sigh of relief.  
"Finally!" She shouted with clear exhaustion in her body language.  
Lex continued walking, holding his bag's strap with one hand, and the other in his hoodie pocket.  
"Sooo, what did you think the problem was?" Rayne said as Lex caught up alongside her and she began untying her black shirt from around her waist.  
Lex looked at her, then ahead of him. He felt his hair tied in a high ponytail as he reached up to scratch the side of his head.  
"Oh, I can honestly say I don't know much about raising ghost type Pokemon," He began with a stable tone, "but what I do know is a Pokemon's strength is a reflexion of the trainer: their experience, potential, skill- shit like that. I guess a Pokemon won't fight at it's best under a trainer that doesn't push themselves to be the best."  
Rayne looked ahead of them at the forest's exit and her smile slowly disappeared.  
"Oh, that makes sense." She said quietly.  
They walked into the beaming sunlight and passed the last couple of trees. Lex held his hand above his eyes and squinted. In front of them were fields and meadows of lush, low cut, green grass as far as the eye could see. Several people were out among the fields with different kinds of Pokemon. Some were training, some were fighting, and some were simply lounging around, enjoying the grass.   
Lex watched as a slim girl in yoga pants and a tight tank top ran alongside the path with a large, muscular Machoke following close behind. Following the direction of the path with his eyes, he could see it led to a town far in the distance.  
After hearing Rayne slide off her book bag, he turned his head to see she stopped and dropped her bag and shirt on the ground.   
"Turn around naughty." Rayne smirked as she slipped one of her arms in the small crop top.  
Instinctively whipping his head forward, Lex waited anxiously as he was forced to listen to the rustling sounds of Rayne undressing.  
After hearing her bookbag unzipping, Lex placed all of his mental attention on the fields infront of him, desperately trying to count each blade of grass.  
"Okay, your good." Rayne announced, pulling down her shirt and adjusting the collar.   
Forgetting to breathe, Lex took in a deep breath and crept his head back, seeing Raynes new look with the tight, long sleeve shirt outlining her slender body. The soft, black material of the shirt blended with the darkness of her skin. In the center of the shirt was a graffiti-like, white and purple design with the words 'Ghost-Type' printed across it.  
She grabbed her bag and zipped it back up, looking down at Lex, "What? I got cold."  
Dumbfounded, Lex pretended not to care and turned his head, continuing his lecture, "Anyway, there's another side to my point."   
"What's that?"  
They both started walking again as Lex spoke, "There's a lot of people in the world who don't see Pokemon as equals. More like tools or slaves."   
He paused and looked down at his feet as he walked.  
"I mean, who can really blame them," He continued, "it's not entirely inaccurate."   
"It is for trainers like us." She interjected, causing Lex to look up at the fields surrounding them.   
The wind blew strong, over the fields, pushing the grass down like waves. To his left was a hill that was slightly steep, elevated maybe five yards up. At the top was a boy, squatted down and yelling at a small Pokemon with slender legs and lilac fur.   
"We have to nail this before the try-outs. No giving up now! C'mon, one more try!" The boy shouted, with one hand petting the Espeon's head.  
Lex looked away as they passed him and spoke up in a serious tone, "The way I see it, Pokemon have their own feelings and their own sense of right and wrong. Most of them never wanted to fight our battles, so when they're told to do something by us, it’s usually forced, not willing. If that’s the case, then you will never get the full strength of your Pokemon."  
Rayne glanced at the back of his head as she listened to his words.  
"That's why I make sure that my Pokemon and I understand each other. I have a different relationship with each one of them because they aren't just things I use whenever I need them, they're my family. And being the family we are, there's trust between us. And when they trust you and you trust them, to the point you would do anything for each other, that’s when you can call yourself a team."  
Lex noticed Rayne stopped, and turned around to look at her.  
"I trust my Pokemon to fight with me at their very best, especially when it counts, and they trust me to take care of them and never lead them astray." He said looking into her soft, violet eyes, "That's something you must understand."  
"But, I love my Pokemon. They know I'll always do anything to take care of them." Rayne said softly.  
Lex eyes looked sharp as he spoke again, "You can love somebody and not trust them."  
He turned his head to see that they were a bit closer to the town, but he still wasn't able to see it in good detail.  
"Anyway, my point is to work on the bond between you and your Pokemon and maybe toughen them up with some more intense training." He said with a more lighthearted voice and softer expression, "Still I'm sorry, but when it come to helping you become a better trainer, my answer's still the same."  
"It's fine, I understand that you've got your own business and I won't pry on the subject." She said while seemingly deep in thought.  
Around fifteen minutes passed as the two strolled down the dirt path. Along the way they passed three ongoing Pokemon battles and several other people walking in the opposite direction, as well as a small white house with a red roof. Lex also noticed a group of Ponyta running in the distance, the fire on their backs waving wildly in the wind.  
As they got closer to their destination, they saw more and more people gathered around in groups. The path they were walking on transitioned from dark brown dirt to smooth, grey, stone bricks. After making it around one last small hill, the path finally curved. Lex and Rayne stopped and admired the entrance to the town about 100 yards ahead of them. There was a large, metal arch above the path with lights on it and two green brick buildings with brown metal panels on each side. Huge gatherings of people and Pokemon walked in and out the town from there.  
The path itself extended deeper into the town which, seemed to be split in two. On the right side, from where they were standing, was a great many houses ranging from one, to two stories; each had a similar design, but different colors. The buildings seemed to be in several clusters forming a grid with a wide, stone street between them. Several had a tree or two separating them, but most just had bushes or a few yards of open grass.  
On the left side was a large, curved, three story building that blocked any view behind it. On the side of the building, they could see several large, glass windows that were low to the ground.  
"Welcome to Barren." Lex said as he casually stood next to Rayne who was still admiring the view.   
After a few more seconds of looking, a strange voice called out to Lex and Rayne from there right, "Hey! You in the hoodie."  
Lex turned his head in response and Rayne moved her whole body around Lex to see who called them. A few feet away from the path was a teenage boy sitting in the grass with a shiny, thick, silver briefcase in his hand. The boy wore a pair of sharp, maroon-colored prescription glasses and a red visor on his head with a black Pokeball symbol on it. His hair was a close call between dirty blonde and dark brown and cut short with a dry and frizzy look, like he just rolled out of bed. His face was bright red from being in the sun and he had two front teeth exposed from his mouth; the rest were small and abnormally jagged.  
The boy sat leaning back with one hand behind him in the grass. His body was just as, if not more, skinny than Rayne's. He had on a tight, long sleeve, black undershirt with a bright red vest over it. The vest had several pockets in the front and an open zipper in the middle; the inside of the vest was white. Below that was a tan pair of shorts that extended down below his knees but were pulled back because of the way he was sitting. On his feet was a pair of green, flat-bottom shoes with tightly tied, white laces.  
"You two aren't from around here, are you?" The boy asked, his voice was raspy and obnoxiously loud.  
Rayne looked at Lex, who simply shrugged his shoulders and continued walking. Rayne stood and watched as the stranger jumped up and held out his hand.  
"Wait!" He shouted, "You guys look like Pokemon trainers. Wanna' battle?"  
Lex stopped walking and turned his head back.  
"Oh no, no. I can't. My Pokemon already went through a tough battle today and it's been over a week since they had a checkup. I'm keeping them from getting in any more fights until I've gotten them to a Pokemon Center." Rayne said casually, holding her hands up in denial.  
"Oh." He said with a disgusted expression, then noticed Lex walking back toward him, both hands in his hoodie pockets.  
Lex stopped when he was directly in front of the boy and stood looking down at him.  
His icy blue eyes were sharp and he spoke in his usual tone, "Twenty-five hundred."  
Rayne and the stranger looked at Lex curiously.  
"Let's fight for twenty-five hundred poke. Sound good?"  
The boy grinned and pinched the end of his visor.   
"Yeah, that sounds perfect." He said, "Follow me."  
The boy grabbed his metal suitcase off the ground and began walking into the field, away from the path. Lex followed and Rayne caught up next to him.  
"Well this happened quickly." She whispered.  
Lex looked at her, then at the boy in front of them, "I just realized I don't have any money." He said with a straight face.  
Rayne looked down at Lex with curiosity and shock, "So what are you gonna' pay him if you lose?"  
"I won't." He whispered and walked ahead of her.  
The cool wind started picking up, causing everyone’s clothes to flap in it. The boy stopped walking and held his hands up as if he was presenting something.  
"Is this good?" He asked as Lex walked up next to him and saw the battlefield was to be a level, open space of low grass.  
"Fine." He said and started walking away from the boy and Rayne.   
Rayne walked up next to him as he dropped down to one knee and laid his briefcase on the grass.  
"Three rounds! Best two out of three wins!" He yelled with his obnoxious voice as he watched Lex continue to walk forward without a response.  
"Your friends not much of a talker." He said looking down at his suitcase.  
"Oh, yeah. I think that’s just the way he is around people. I don't mind it though." She said, remembering how he purposely avoided other people on the forest path.  
Suddenly, a loud smack sound was made on his briefcase as he unbuckled the locks and opened it up. Inside was a black, foamy material and nine enlarged, red and white Pokeballs sitting soundly in the foam.  
"Wow, you have a lot of Pokemon." Rayne exclaimed, admiring the contents of the briefcase.  
The boy closed his eyes and grew a smug grin, speaking in a cocky tone, "Well I am a Pokemon breeder after all. Most girls I bring home are fasinated when they see I have over thirty Pokemon in my care. I just keep my best nine on me for occasions such as this." He paused and lifted his hand in the air to express his own ego, "Not only that but I also happen to be-"  
"Oh, wait. That's really interesting, but I forgot to tell Lex something." Rayne said cutting the boy off mid-sentence.  
"Good luck!" She bantered, jogging across the field, leaving the boy with a rejected, angered expression.  
After a few moments of examining his Pokeballs, the boy looked up, across the field at his opponent and spoke to himself, "Lex, huh."  
Around 30 yards away, on the other side of the field, Lex watched as Rayne ran up alongside him.  
"Kick his ass." She said and stood behind him as the boy closed his brief case and stood up with a Pokeball in hand.   
"You ready?" The boy shouted with a grin.  
Lex tilted his head to the left, then right, cracking his neck twice and yelled back, "Yeah!"  
"Let's get this started." The boy said to himself as he reached behind him and stood ready to throw.  
Another brief wind blew across the field, pushing Lex's bangs out his face, as the two stood ready. Then, once the wind ceased, they both acted and threw their Pokeballs in the air.  
"Go! Luxray!" The boy shouted as the ball flew in the air and opened.  
The white light beamed out to the ground, forming a four-legged Pokemon, covered in shaggy, black fur. The fur covered its shoulders and the base of its tail, plus formed a large mane on its head. Its face, hind legs, torso, and back of its front legs were light blue. On the back of each foreleg, the Luxray had three yellow, half rings. Its long, thin tail was tipped with a yellow four-pointed star. With a short, blunt nose, dark, yellow eyes, sharp, short, exposed teeth, and rounded ears with yellow insides. The Pokemon stood strong with a bold posture.   
Opposite Luxray on the field was Houndoom, who stood with its head low to the ground. Fangs bared and growling, the two stood locked on each other as the boy shouted his first command.  
"Alright Luxray, use Spark!"   
After the boys loud, raspy command, the black-furred Pokemon charged at Houndoom head on. As it ran, its entire upper body, including head, was covered in bright-yellow electricity. The sparks flew behind him as it began to pick up speed.  
"Get moving Houndoom." Lex said casually.  
After he did, Houdoom, who had been standing still, jumped into action, running straight for Luxray. As the two came closer and closer to collision, Lex waited until the last possible moment to issue his second command.  
"Right!"  
As he did, Houndoom darted to the right dodging the massed ball of electricity charging toward him. Startled by the move, Luxray quickly changed its course and began chasing Houndoom. Both running on all fours, Houndoom slowly curved to the right making a U-turn as Luxray followed, slowly inching closer to him, still covered in yellow sparks.  
The boy grinned and shouted another command, "Discharge!"  
After that, his Pokemon began to glow brighter and a short grin grew on Lex's face as well.  
"Jump, then Smog!"   
The sprinting Houndoom quickly jumped into the air as Luxray expelled all of its electricity, striking the area around it. The electricity barley passed below Houndoom as he turned his head and opened its mouth. Once he did, a heavy cloud of filthy black gas poured out, covering Luxray who was only a few feet away.  
"Get out of there Luxray!" The boy shouted with a shocked expression.  
Houndoom landed on the ground and watched as Luxray launched itself out of the gas and landed a few yards away, stumbling a bit. Standing still and coughing, the Luxray stared down at the grass for a few seconds, then caught its breath.  
"Charge up!" The boy shouted and gripped his hand tightly in a fist; you could see the sweat running down his neck as he focused.  
Lex on the other hand stood leisurely, placing one hand in his hoody pocket as the other hung low, gripping Houndoom's Pokeball. Rayne stood next to him, observing the battle close with excitement and every so often glancing at Lex's face.  
Suddenly, a low growl could be heard in the field as Luxray began glowing bright-yellow again and small particles of electricity accumulated around it. A stressed and painful expression was on its face as the glow grew brighter and brighter over a matter of seconds until finally it broke like a bubble and two bolts of electricity shot out from each side of it. Luxray stood up with a different look this time and turned to Houndoom, staring at him with sharp, unwavering eyes.   
"Hhmm." Lex hummed quietly to himself as the boy across the field lifted his hand.  
"Thunder!" He shouted.  
A snap second after the word left his mouth, Luxray began to glow again. This time, yellow sparks covered its whole body and it opened its mouth, roaring loudly as a wicked thunderbolt shot out at high speeds directly toward Houndoom.   
"Dodge it quick!" Lex shouted, but Houndoom was already moving before he could finish.  
The powerful attack landed behind Houndoom causing a large explosion and leaving behind a round, dirt filled crater. Houndoom, who had ran to its left, made a sharp turn and was running toward Luxray.  
"Inferno!"  
Houndoom quickly jumped in the air and opened its mouth. Luxray, who was unprepared, began to leap out of the way just as it was engulfed by a huge wave of intense, red flame. The flames swirled around Luxray as it screeched in pain.   
Catching an intense wave of heat, the boy quickly shielded his face with his arms. After a few more moments, Lex, Rayne, Houndoom, and the boy all watched as the wild flames slowly subsided until all that was left was a few dim flames on the charred ground and Luxray, who was lying still with several burns on its face and legs.  
The boy stood there, petrified by the attack, and called out to his Pokemon, "Luxray?"  
Slowly, Luxray stood up with one eye closed and shaky legs. It stood in a ready position, preparing itself to attack again.  
"Wanna' call the first match?" Lex shouted to the boy who stared at his Pokemon.  
After a few moments, another small wind blew across the field, brushing through Luxrays dark fur as it stared sharply at Houndoom.  
"Hell no! Let do this." The boy said then shouted, "Luxray, Charge again!"  
After that command, Luxray began glowing again as small particles of electricity gathered around its body once more.  
Lex sighed and called out to his Pokemon, "Houndoom, get back."  
Quickly, Houndoom began backpedaling, putting some distance between him and Luxray as it charged up its electricity. After it discharged, Luxray stood with a strong posture and prepared itself to attack; Houndoom did the same.  
"Ready Luxray?" The boy shouted and Luxray gave a short growl in response.   
The boy's red face was now drenched in sweat, along with his hair and clothes as he lifted his hand and opened his mouth, "Alright, Wild Charge!"  
Lex responded by shouting a command to Houndoom as well, "Flame Charge!"  
Suddenly, Luxray was shrouded by an explosion of electricity, covering its body. Several yards away, Houndoom’s body was also covered, only his was by violent red and yellow flames. With flames flickering and spark igniting, both stood with intense concentrated power.  
"Go get ‘em." Lex said.  
"Take him down!" The boy shouted right after.  
In unison, both Pokemon charged each other head-strong, as fast as they could. Houndoom lowered his flame cloaked horns preparing to ram and Luxray lowered its head as well, growling loudly over the sound of shocking electricity. Rayne and the boy held their breath as the two came within feet of each other.   
Finally, the collision of fire and electricity made a thunderous boom and large yellow bolts darted out of the huge dust cloud that formed. Several short, random spouts of flames also shot into the air, withering away as it traveled. Lex stood with a surprisingly calm expression, watching the dust cloud slowly clear away; the boy on the other hand stood gritting his teeth and nervously clenching his fist as the flames and electricity ceased to shoot out.  
Once it was clear enough to see, the boy eyes widened at the sight. Both Houndoom and Luxray stood sternly, watching each other only inches apart. A few seconds passed and everyone was still as a soft breeze blew between them.  
"Lu-" The boy started, but stopped after watching his Luxray collapse on the ground, desperately trying to hold himself up with his front right leg.  
Lex sighed at the sight and opened his mouth, "Houndoom."  
Suddenly, Houndoom grew a vicious look and began growling with its sharp fangs in Luxrays face. After a few moments, Luxray looked up at Houndoom and the strong, bold expression it had quickly changed to that of a terrified one, as Houndoom began barking loudly, threatening to attack again.   
Slowly, Luxray’s strength failed as it closed its eyes and fell down the rest of the way. Lex grinned and raised his arm with the Pokeball, shooting out the red beam that returned Houndoom to his ball. On the other side of the field, the boy looked down at the ground and stomped his foot angrily.  
"Damnit! Damnit!" He yelled as he raised his arm, "Return!"  
The knocked out Luxray quickly dematerialized into red light and returned to the Pokeball in the boy’s hand. The boy gripped the ball tightly and quickly kneeled down, placing it in his suitcase.  
A few feet away from Lex, Rayne stood in awe from the epic battle that just transpired in front of her. She held her bag straps in each hand as her tied up braids fluttered in the wind.  
"Um, excuse me miss?"  
Rayne’s face peaked up in curiosity after hearing a small child’s voice behind her. Turning around, she saw a short kid with evenly cut, light-brown hair and a cowlick in the back. His round lapis eyes looked up at Rayne as he gripped the blue and black stripped, collared shirt he was wearing and adjusted his dark-brown, belted-up shorts.  
Rayne bent down and placed her hands on her knees opening her mouth, "Yes?"  
"Um, who is that fighting Damian over their?" The kid asked, pointing at Lex.  
Rayne looked over at Lex as he glanced at her, reaching behind him for another Pokeball. Rayne pulled the kid farther away so she wouldn’t distract Lex.  
"That boy’s name is Damian?" Rayne asked curiously.  
The boy looked surprised by her question and responded, "You don’t know Damian?"  
Rayne shook her head and the little kid folded his arms.  
"Where are you from?"  
Rayne turned her body and pointed in the direction they came from, "We just came from Yilkwood Forest, down the path there."  
The boy looked and raised his head in understanding, "Oh okay. So you're new here."   
The boy paused then looked up at her and smiled, "Well, the guy your friend’s fighting is Damian Timber. He’s a proud member of Barren Academy’s Battle Team. I’ve been a big fan of his for a long time ever since he won our team a spot at Regionals ."  
"Oh." She said, looking back at the tempered boy.  
"Yep. So, how bad’s he winning?" The boy asked.  
Rayne looked down at him and rubbed the back of her head chuckling, "Actually, he just lost the first round to Lex."  
The boy’s jaw dropped as he peeked around seeing his idol in stress, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes.  
"What?" The kid shouted, "But he always wins the first round, that’s usually when he uses Luxray. How’d he beat him?"  
Rayne and the kid looked at Lex who was tossing his small Pokeball in the air casually as he waited.  
"He used his Houndoom to beat him; did it without taking any damage too."  
The kid’s eyes widened in awe as he watched Lex stand there.  
"Whoooaa. He must be super strong. I’ve got to get my friend so we can watch this. Be right back!" He shouted as he turned around and began running back to the path.  
Rayne smiled and turned back around, walking toward Lex.   
She stood next to him and placed her hand on her hip, "Welp, you haven’t been here ten minutes and you already have fans."  
Lex looked to his right to see that many of the people crossing the path and standing by the gate had begun migrating over to where their battle was taking place. Most looked to be other Pokemon trainers and several had already started waiting for the next round to start.  
Damian, who also noticed the crowd, took in a deep breath and pushed up his glasses. With a calmer look on his face, he grabbed a Pokeball in the center of his suitcase and closed it back up.  
Rayne looked at Lex, twirling a loose braid with her finger, "So what's your plan this round?"  
"Win... this guy's too predictable to bother with a plan." Lex said, clicking the button on the Pokeball, enlarging it.  
Damian stood up and glanced at the growing crowd once more before straightening his visor and speaking up.  
"Hey, nice job in the first round. I clearly underestimated you." He yelled with a clear, overconfident tone.  
"I guess so." Lex responded quickly, as if he was being timed.  
The boy choked on his words before he could get out his next statement and grunted angrily under his breath.  
"Let's go Beedrill!" Damian shouted, throwing his Pokeball.  
Once in the air, the red and white ball opened up and the white beam began to take form on the ground. The Pokemon was around three feet tall and stood on two long, black, segmented legs, insectoid in shape. The Beedrill's head was round with a slightly pointed mouth, large, red bug-eyes, and two black antennas with a sharp bends in the middle. Its forelegs were tipped with long, white, conical stingers. On its back was two pairs of round, transparent wings with several veins stretching across them. Almost all of its body was yellow except for two black stripes on its abdomen where a third stinger was planted on the bottom.   
"Let's make this quick Riolu." Lex said as he underhand tossed his ball into the air.   
Once his Pokeball opened and shot its beam, Riolu materialized on the ground, kneeling in the grass with its eyes closed. Riolu sat there for a minute and gripped its scarf with its paw, while moving its tail slowly to the right. After opening his eyes, Riolu stood up to see his opponent a few yards away.  
Suddenly, the Beedrill's wings began moving violently fast, causing a loud buzzing sound and rendering them practically invisible. Once they were in motion, Beedrill was able to hover a few feet off the ground. Riolu stood in a stance that prepared him to fight as Beedrill did the same.  
"Watch the stingers." Lex said sternly.  
"We can't lose to them here no matter what. This Pokemon doesn't look very durable so take advantage of that." Damian said looking serious as Beedrill focused on Riolu.  
A brief moment passed, just long enough for Damian to get one last deep breathe in before Lex started the battle.  
"Bulk Up!"  
After Lex's words met Riolu's ears, he took a deep breathe in through his nose and closed his eyes. Suddenly, his face began tensing up and he reached in with each paw, grabbing his sides. A low, straining growl slowly grew louder from Riolu, as a bright red aura began to surround his body. It gradually grew brighter, flickering and wavering up his body like transparent fire, and eventually dissipating once it got a certain distance away. As Riolu's growl grew fiercer, his body begin to bulk up and shake slightly with several veins straining out his skinny arms.  
Looking surprised by Lex's opening move, Damian responded with his own.  
"Beedrill, Agility!"  
Just as Riolu did before, Damian's Beedrill inhaled deeply and closed its eyes. As it did, its body began to glow a bright white and its already near invisible wings started buzzing even faster.   
Lex squinted his eyes, watching the Beedrill closely until suddenly, it darted to its left and was gone. Surprised, Lex and Rayne quickly scanned the area searching for the yellow Pokemon, but to no avail. Soon after its disappearance, Riolu gave a short, loud growl along with a low boom as the red aura shot away from him and he stood up straight.   
Lex gave one more look, scanning around his opponent, the people watching, even behind him, but all he saw was grass.  
"What the hell?" Lex shouted to Damian, who was casually pinching his red visor.   
With a cocky smile, Damian chuckled to himself and replied, "Whatever do you mean?"  
"Tsk. Find it!" Lex shouted, still searching the area.  
Slowly, Riolu closed its eyes and raised each of its ears, shaking them rapidly. Rayne watched Riolu carefully, looking confused.  
"What's Riolu doing?" She asked in a quiet voice, almost to a whisper.  
"He's using aura to find the Beedrill." Lex responded.  
Rayne glanced at Lex, "Oohh, I see," then looked back at the focused Pokemon, "I remember hearing something about Riolus and Lucarios having a 'sixth sense', but I've never actually seen it before."  
"Well, here's your chance."   
Just as Lex finished speaking, Riolu broke its focus and jumped forward looking surprised and fearful. Quickly checking its left and right, Riolu's paws were up and ready to defend itself.  
"Where is it?" Lex shouted to the nervous Pokemon.  
Across the field, Damian, who was obviously trying to holding in his laughter the whole time, began cackling loudly, gasping for air every couple of seconds.   
Lex stared at him with a blank, expressionless face, as the boy held his stomach and wiped his eyes. With one last snort, Damian took in a deep breath and got his composer together.  
With most of his teeth exposed from his smile, the red-faced boy spoke up, "Okay, okay. Sorry about that, I just-"   
Damian paused to let out a short giggle under his breath, "Alright, I'm good. Beedrill lets stop playing with them."  
Suddenly, Beedrill appeared directly in front of Lex's face with only an inch of space between them. Before Lex even got a chance to react, the yellow Pokemon was gone just as fast as it came. Startled, Lex jumped back with widened eyes looking around just like Riolu.  
"What's wrong?" Rayne asked curiously, staring at him as if a big yellow bug didn't just flash in front of him.  
Lex looked at her, then, as if understanding something, took a step forward and focused on Riolu.  
"Fury attack!" Damian shouted at the top of his lungs.  
Right after he did, Beedrill appeared behind Riolu, jabbing one of its long stingers into his back. Immediately after, Riolu was jabbed again in its stomach. Suddenly, Beedrill was appearing all around Riolu at the same time, violently ramming him with its stingers. All Riolu could do was stand there and take the punishment, without even a second to breathe.  
Looking worried, Rayne turned her head from the one-sided battle in front of her and pulled on Lex's shoulder, "Do something! Riolu's getting destroyed out there."  
Without response, Lex stood there patiently, observing the fight with extreme focus. He watched the pained expression Riolu made with each hit, he attempted to follow the impossibly fast Beedrill with his eyes, he watched Damian hold his hand over his mouth, trying to contain his laughter, he even glanced into the crowd, spotting people in specific and watched their cheerful movements and expressions. After observing the situation before him, he noticed one thing in particular. Even though Riolu was being pummeled with attacks, his scarf was lucky enough to remain untouched the whole time.   
Pinging in sudden realization, Lex opened his mouth, looking at Ryane.  
"I got i-"   
"LEX WHAT ARE YOU DOING, ARE YOU GOING TO COMMAND YOUR POKEMON OR NOT?" Rayne exclaimed, pointing at the battling Pokemon.  
After being cut off so abruptly, Lex stood still for moment, then turned back to his battle, "R-right."  
Catching a break from Beedrill's relentless attacks, Riolu wobbled backward, holding its left shoulder and breathing fast. He watched as Beedrill quickly darted back and forth around him making a constant, loud buzzing sound from its wings. Lex stood, patiently waiting for something as the spectators on the sides began clapping, while some were cheering Damian's name. In response, Damian smiled, exposing his two, large front teeth, and turned to the crowd, bending over in a bow. Distracted by the people, Damian failed to notice that at that time, Riolu had glanced over at Lex for a brief moment just long enough to see Lex making a hand gesture by pulling on his hoodies collar.  
Turning back to face Lex, Damian's Beedrill flew next to him as he began to speak.  
"Wanna’ call this round?" He shouted in a voice that mocked Lex.  
Lex blew air out his nose and closed his eyes, then took in a deep breathe.  
"Nah!" Lex shouted back.  
Damian gritted his teeth and whispered to himself, "As you wish."  
"Beedrill, let’s give these people a very one-sided show." He said lifting his hand and pointing, "Poison Jab!"  
As he did, Beedrill's right stinger began glowing a bright purple and it darted toward Riolu. Riolu, who had been kneeling down recovering its energy, sat very still and closed its eyes. Behind Riolu, Lex stood, eyes wide, waiting to shout something with Rayne standing next to him, watching nervously.   
Beedrill appeared in several different places at once, flying from side-to-side, trying to confuse its opponent, but Riolu simply sat there, raising its ears. Just a second later, Beedrill jumped into the air and pulled its purple, glowing stinger back, preparing to drive it down.   
In a split second reaction, Lex shouted his first command, "Now! Fling your scarf!"  
As he did, Riolu's eyes shot open, along with its body. Riolu pulled his scarf off, located Beedrill, and launched himself in the air toward him all in one motion. As he did, he spun around Beedrill's lightning fast stinger, dodging it, and threw his scarf into its eyes. Blind and startled, Beedrill was unable to stop its forward momentum and slammed its stinger into the ground. Before what just happened could register in Damian or the crowd's head, Lex and Riolu were already making their next move.  
"Low sweep!" Lex shouted as Riolu sprinted behind Beedrill.  
The unaware Bug-Pokemon only had enough time to pull the scarf off its face before its legs were swiftly kicked out from under it and it fell on its back, making a short cry.   
"What!?" Damian shouted, just realizing what was happening along with the crowd.  
"Reversal!" Lex shouted with his first nervous expression Rayne had ever noticed in him.  
Smiling as she watched, Riolu spun around as both the grey bumps on its paws began glowing bright orange. Giving off an intense growl, Riolu slammed its paw down on Beedrill's yellow abdomen with a powerful shock wave of force leaving it immobilized.  
Damian stood with his jaw dropped as his cocky, boastful appearance quickly changed to a more outraged and sullen one.  
"Beedrill, what are you doing!?" He shouted with a raspier tone than before.  
Letting out a sigh, Lex tilted his head to a crack again and shouted one last command, "Riolu, Force Palm!"  
After he did, Damian saw that Riolu was preparing to finish off Beedrill and quickly began to freak out, "Wait, wait, wai- Beedrill get up! Come on, get up now!"  
Griping his light brown hair, Damian watched as Beedrill did nothing to stop Riolu from delivering another monstrous blow to its abdomen, rending it unconscious.  
Lex, Rayne, Damian, and the crowd watched in silence for a few seconds, confirming that Beedrill had fainted and the battle was over. Once it was confirmed, the crowd, that had eventually grew to be rather large in size, was clapping, cheering, and whistling.  
"Wow, Damian lost to some stranger just like that."  
"I guess the Academy’s Battle Team isn't as strong as I imagined."  
"That was awesome, did you see how his jump completely turned that battle around in one move!"  
"Who is that guy? Is he another Battle Team member?"  
"Never seen him before."  
"Wanna’ go grab some lunch after this?"  
"I think I wanna’ catch a Riolu now."  
The people in the crowd spoke and whispered as Rayne turned over to Lex.  
"Woohoo! You did it Lex!" She shouted, punching him in the shoulder, "Good job."  
Lex ran his fingers through his messy, grey hair, scratching it, and pulled out Riolu's Pokeball.  
"It was nothin'."   
Rayne laughed loudly causing Lex to sneak in a short-lived smile. He waited for Riolu to grab his scarf and wrap it around his neck again before lifting his Pokeball and shouting, "Return."  
Once Riolu was sucked back in by the red beam, Lex held the ball close and spoke to it, "Not bad Riolu, but we'll toughen you up so it doesn't get that close again."  
Shrinking and placing his Pokeball on his belt, Lex sunk both his hands in his hoodie pockets and glanced over to the crowd of people, noticing that none of them were leaving.  
Rayne, noticing as well, walked towards the crowd as Lex began walking toward Damian.  
"That's all folks, battle over!" She shouted, getting all the people's attention.  
"Aaww, that's it?"  
"Oh, well."  
"I wanted to see more."  
"Alright cool, now where do we go for lunch?"  
"Good battle."  
"Yeah, it was."  
The crowd slowly began dispersing, some to other parts of the field, but most in the direction of the front gate. Just as Rayne was going to turn around, she noticed two little boys walking away with the crowd making hand gestures and laughing happily. One of the kids was the one who spoke to her early and Rayne smiled before turning around and catching up to Lex.  
Once she was walking next to him, she spoke with a apologetic tone, "Sorry for yelling at you. I think I'm starting to understand that trust between Pokemon thing you were talking about."  
Lex looked at Rayne and replied in his usual low tone, "Don't worry about it, I should have reacted sooner."  
"Speaking of which, how the hell did you turn that match around in just three moves, I don't think I've ever seen somebody do something like that before."  
Lex looked forward, noticing that they were a few feet away from Damian's Beedrill, who was still unconscious on the ground.   
"I'll tell you later." He said quietly as he walked ahead of Rayne.  
"You going to return your Pokemon?" Lex asked, staring daggers at Damian.   
Damian’s face was red. Breathing heavily, he knelt down and grabbed his Pokeball.   
"Get back here." He said returning his Beedrill to his ball, "Weak."  
Lex walked up to Damian as he shoved the ball back in his suitcase and slammed it shut.  
"Pay up."   
Damian quickly stood up and began shouting, "You did that on purpose, you made me look like a fool!"  
Rayne took a step forward and spoke calmly, "Hey i-"  
"Shut up!" Damian shouted cutting her off, "One more round. I'll double the prize money. I'll prove to you I'm not weak!"  
The more he shouted, the more his expression looked like he was going to break down and cry any second. His voice was wavering and shaky, and his fist was clenched in a tight ball.  
"No, I'm good." Lex said calmly, holding out his hand.  
Crushed by Lex's respond, Damian quickly opened a pocket on his vest and pulled out two thin, green, rectangular dollars with large '1,000's printed on them. He then reached in his pocket and pulled out a small, silver coin with a '500' imprinted on one side and a 'P' shaped money sign on the other.   
Placing the money in his hand, Damian quickly turned around, not looking into Lex's eyes.  
"There. Two thousand, five hundred Pokedollars. Now get away from me." He said in a low, croaky voice.  
Lex examined the money briefly and shoved it in his pocket, walking away from the defeated boy. Rayne stood by for a few seconds, the shook her head and walked next to Lex toward the stone path.  
"So how did you win so fast?" She said cheerfully, holding her hands behind her back and looking at Lex.  
Lex looked down at her, surprised, and fumbled his words, "Oh, uh- Remember how you showed me how that Pokedex worked before we got out of the forest?"  
"Yeah."  
"Well, when you showed me all of their moves, I noticed that there was a few of them that I didn't know he had learned, one of them was Bulk Up."  
Rayne spoke up with clear understanding, "Oohh, right, right. Bulk Up increases your Pokemon attack damage, doesn’t it?"  
"Yeah, that's why he used Agility, to keep Rilou from landing any hits, but I wasn't prepared for just how fast his Beedrill could move."  
"I see." Rayne replied as the two of them walked up to a familiar sight.  
They were standing in the grass next to the smooth, grey, stone path. Several yards ahead of them was the lit up, metal arch curving over the main entrance to the town. Multiple groups of people and Pokemon were entering and leaving through the wide gap and some were walking down the path next to them. Lex watched as a girl walked passed them.   
For no real reason, Lex noticed the features of the girl: brown hair that was evenly cut at her shoulders, a thin, pinkish-red shirt that was slightly tight around her breasts, a long, white, heavy looking skirt that stopped below her knees with a dotted pattern wrapping around it, a pair of red slip-in shoes, and two small, yellow, very similar Pokemon on each of her shoulders. One was a Plusle, which had red ears and a plus design on its cheeks and tail, whilst the other was a Minun which had a identical minus design.  
Once the girl had walked passed them, Lex shot out of his thoughts and looked forward at the entrance, then noticed Rayne still standing next to him. His face looked confused as he stared at her.   
"What is it?" She asked, curious herself.  
"Um, aren't you going-"  
"Heeeey! You two!"  
Suddenly, Lex was cut off by an unfamiliar, child-like voice coming from close behind them. Lex turned his head slightly to see that he was about to be tackled by a person he did not know, and quickly side-stepped out the way to dodge the attack. As the person began to fall between the two of them, Lex quickly grabbed the back of their shirt, catching them before they hit the ground.   
"Whoa." Rayne said as Lex pulled the mysterious person back to their feet and stood them up.   
Standing before them was a slender, feminine looking young boy - roughly their own age - with fluffy platinum blond hair, lime green eyes, and rather soft features. The stranger was just barely shorter than Lex, wearing a pair of brown lace-up boots, black-and-white vertically striped stockings, black short-shorts, a white button up shirt with sleeves that seemed to be a bit too long, a black bow at the center of his collar, and suspenders that loosely hung off the sides of his hips.  
Rayne snorted and muttered under her breath, "What's with that get up?"  
Lex didn't respond.  
The stranger stood still with a blank face, then shook his head and laughed, "Sorry about that, I lost my balance and tripped."  
The stranger flipped one of his cowlicks to the left, put his left hand on his hip, pointed at Lex, "You were the one who defeated Damian, right?"  
Lex nodded.  
"My name is Chess Villette! I was watching you battle him from the crowd!" Chess explained.


	4. Exploring Barren Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lex and Rayne meet Chess and the three travel through Barren

Lex placed his right hand in his pants pocket and stood there, studying the blond teenager.   
"Good for you." He said with an impertinent tone and began to turn away from the boy.  
"UM, WAIT!" The small boy shouted in disarray.  
A moment later, Lex felt a small tug on the back of his hoodie. He turned his head to see that Chess was gripping the back of his clothes and looking up at him. Eyes widened, Lex took a moment to scan the details in his face. His green eyes looked like they would explode out of his head at any second and his hair was model worthy, well-groomed and silky. The boy’s skin was also worth noting: the exceedingly smooth texture and paleness alone made him look like some god or unreal deity. Other features, such as his eyebrows and lips, were all flawless at best.  
"Wha-"   
"Take me with you guys!" Chess pleaded, holding Lex as tight as he could.   
Lex glanced at the boys hands, noticing how different they were from his own. Small, soft, fragile, and cleaner than he thought possible; it was like a little prince was holding him back.  
Lex's eyes grew dull again and he turned his head back, "Huh? No."  
Lex swiped Chess's hand off the back of his hoodie and took a step forward. Suddenly, Lex felt yet another tug, only this one was on his left. Chess had attached himself to Lex's arm, wrapping his own around it tightly.   
"Pleeaase, take me with you!" He whined in a singsong voice, "I can tell the two of you are going on a long journey!"  
"Uh- Wh-" Lex stuttered, attempting to pry the boy off his arm, "What?"  
Chess let go of his arm and took a step back, pointing at Lex's bag, "Well, first off, it quite obvious you've been traveling a while based off your appearance: Torn up, hideous bag, dirty commoner clothes, unkempt, wild hair that could contain a family of Patrats, not-to-mention the general rugged features of your face and body."  
Lex stood there staring blankly as Chess listed out all his 'qualities'.   
"Plus you have that god-awful outdoors smell," Chess explained as he started twirling his cowlick with his pointer finger, "that lets me know you haven’t taken a shower or bath in a while."  
As Chess ranted on, Lex looked behind him, searching for where Rayne had been this whole scene. To his surprise, he found her standing with her back to him just a few feet away. With a closer look, he noticed that she had her hands over her face, and she was shaking, as if she was sick or crying.  
Briefly looking concerned, Lex walked away from Chess mid-rant, toward Rayne.  
"You okay?" Lex said reaching his hand out to her shoulder.  
Once he did, he pulled Rayne closer to see her face, unprepared for what came next. Suddenly, Rayne, who had her hand over her mouth, blurted out with laughter. Her face was red and her eyes were watering, with several tears rolling down her cheek.   
"I- I couldn't hold it back anymore!" She wheezed out as she snorted and continued to laugh hysterically.  
Lex, who looked startled for a moment, dropped his hand down to his side and stood there aggravated.  
"I mean he was- he just showed up, and you were-" She cried as she rubbed her eye with one hand and leaned on Lex's shoulder with the other.  
Catching her breath and getting her laugh under control, she gasped and looked up at Lex's inexpressive face.  
"Pfff, I can't! Hahahahaha!" She laughed, holding her stomach and snorting.  
"Get away from me."  
As Rayne proceeded to render herself unconscious from laughter, Chess snuck up next to Lex and placed his hands in his shorts pockets.  
"What's so funny?" He asked in an adorable tone, looking at Rayne, then up at Lex with puppy dog eyes.  
Rayne looked at Chess and smiled, "Aaawww, god he's cute. Can we keep him?"   
Surprised by Rayne's question, Lex scrunched his brows together and looked at her. She had a sincerely happy look: reddened cheeks from laughing, soft, watery eyes and a glittering white smile.   
"Uh." Lex started, trying to wrap his head over the situation, "Listen. I'm sorry but, I've got to go."  
As Lex spoke, the cheerful smiles on both their faces quickly dissipated, along with the lighthearted atmosphere. A short moment passed by where it was quiet enough between the three of them to hear other people shouting and talking amongst themselves by the pathway.  
"What do you mean?" Chess murmured softly, looking up at Lex.  
Lex glanced down at him, seeing his worried, watery expression, and then at Rayne, who also looked upset. Lex stared firmly into her soft, lilac eyes, looking confused and speaking in a tone that almost seemed angry.  
"Well what did you expect?" He asked, "Our deal was if you helped me I would take you to Barren town right?"  
Rayne stood there for a second, staring blankly, then cleared her throat and nodded, "No you're right. That was our deal. You kept up your end of the bargain. Thank you."  
After Rayne spoke, Lex appeared to be satisfied by her response and nodded his head, speaking softly, "Ok then, it was fun."  
After he did, the wind picked up again as Lex stepped onto the stone path, hair and clothes flapping wildly. Rayne and Chess stood there watching as Lex placed his hand in his hoodie pocket and pulled on his bag's remaining strap. Chess, who looked as if he was going to either cry or punch somebody, took a step forward, extending his arm toward Lex, and opened his mouth.   
"WAIT!"  
Startled, Chess turned his head to see that Rayne had shouted at the top of her lungs, getting Lex's attention. As she did, she jogged up the path catching up to Lex, closely followed by Chess who was grinning again and skipping gracefully.  
Lex, who had stopped in the middle of the path, quickly turned his head back, staring sharply at the pair.  
"Why don't we go together?" Rayne asked curiously.  
As Chess caught up behind Rayne, he noticed her nervously tapping her fingers behind her back as she spoke to Lex, even though her face, tone, and posture were all calm and composed.   
"Why would you want to keep going with me?" Lex asked, casting his icy blue gaze over the two of them.  
"Well, you're heading to New Yale to fight the gym there, aren't you?"   
"Hey that's where I was hoping the two of you were going!" Chess interjected, full of excitement and energy.  
Chess winked at Lex and reached down in his pocket, struggling to pull something out.  
"See, I was hoping to find some people to go with me to fight the gym at the city while school was out." Chess exclaimed as he held out a small Pokeball in front of them.  
Lex took a step back and sucked his teeth before responding to Rayne, "Well... your intuition's as sharp as ever. Yeah, I was heading to New Yale after I got done with my business here, so what? You don't know who I am or anything about me."  
Rayne smiled and spoke up in a confident tone, "I know your name is Lex. I know you're skilled in the medical field for both people and Pokemon. I know you're a strong Pokemon Trainer and treat each of them like you would family. I know you're a quick thinker and problem solver. I know that you seem distant and short-tempered around most people but you happen to be very intelligent and have a pleasant way of explaining things."  
Lex stood still and watched the speed of Rayne lips as she continued her list of things she knew about him. Chess diverted his full attention to Rayne as she spoke, leaning in close and staring up at her with eyes wide and jaw dropped.  
"I know you act like you're made of stone, but you actually have just as many emotions as anyone else." After a brief pause to inhale, Rayne held up her hand and began raising a finger with each word she listed, "You get nervous, cheerful, shy... curious."   
As the last word slowly left her lips, Rayne gave Lex a suggestive look and grinned while Lex looked down at the stone, rubbing the back of his head which was the closest thing he'd ever come to blushing.  
"I know you hate waking up early but love being a sarcastic prick when you wanna' be." She continued as she and Lex gave a short laugh, leaving Chess watching both of them curiously.  
Lex stood up straight and looked at Rayne, who slowly took one step after another toward him, grinning with eyes locked on his.  
Before being only inches away from Lex's face, Rayne lock her hands behind her back and spoke again.  
"And Lex", She whispered, leaning in, "I think it would be very rewarding for you to get to know me as well."  
A shiver crawling up his spine, Lex took a step back and spoke, his tone slightly wavering, "Anything else?"  
Rayne placed her finger on her lip and hummed to herself, until she suddenly spoke.   
"Oh yeah, I know that you're one of the most interesting people I've ever met." She paused before continuing, "Mainly because I'm certain there's so much more for me to learn about you, and I'm a curious girl."  
With a sigh, Lex placed his right hand on his forehead, shaking it as Rayne stood in front of him cheerfully.  
"Well that's apparent. What about the kid we know nothing about, you got anything to add to this?"   
Lex and Rayne both looked at Chess as he stood up straight and flipped his cowlick to the opposite side.  
"Sure." He started with his winsome, seemingly premature tone of voice, "I know that I have a name and it’s not 'Kid,' it's Chess!"  
Lex gave another short cough under his breath as Rayne looked at him with a shit-eating grin.  
"I also know that I really, really want to go with you guys. Pleeaase!"  
Lex sighed again and rubbed both his eyes, "I still don't kno-"  
Suddenly, Chess had both his arms wrapped around Lex's waist and one of his legs kicked up in the air.   
"Pleeeaaase!" He whined.  
Lex held his hand up in surprise, looking down at his shiny blond hair as the boy shoved his face into his hoodie.   
"Okay, okay, enough. Get off!" Lex said sternly as he pushed Chess back a few feet.  
Dusting his hoodie off, both Rayne and Chess stared with nervous anticipation as Lex was preparing to give them an answer.  
With one last deep sigh, Lex slowly spoke up, "You two are the physical manifestations of annoying."  
Rayne smiled and replied, "See, you know stuff about us too."  
Chess slowly went from a small giggle to all out laughter over a few seconds, as Lex reached behind his head and pulled out the small band holding his ponytail.  
"Fuck it." He said casually as he wrapped the band around his wrist and wildly ran his hand through his hair.  
"Wait, so you're saying yes?" Rayne asked curiously as she watched parts of Lex's hair droop down and curl up.  
Looking confused, Lex replied in a tone that made it seem like the answer was obvious, "Yeah. I'm saying we can travel to New Yale together."  
Unprepared for what his response would trigger, Lex leaned back a bit as he watched both Chess and Rayne shout the word, 'Yay' and start jumping around until they ended up giving each other a genuinely excited hug. Lex stood there watching; the wind shuffled their blonde and black hair as they detached from one other, both looking at him.   
Lex scratched the side of his head as he took a step back and turned toward the front of the town, "Well, I don't know about you two, but I'm starving. So I'm gonna' go sell some stuff and find a place to eat."  
Suddenly, Chess was raising his hand and shouting, "Ooo, ooo, ooo!" as he ran up in front of Lex.   
"Yes... Chess."  
Chess spun around and straightened out the bow on his collar before holding his hands behind his head, walking backwards and talking to Lex.  
"Trust me Lex, I know this place inside and out." Chess announced in a cheery tone.  
Grinning, Lex replied in his dull tone, "Well I can't hear you if you're way down there."  
"Huh, down where?"  
Just as the words escaped his lips, the back of Chess's heel hit the tip of a broken brick on the path causing Chess to trip and fall backwards, landing on his back with a startled scream. Breathing heavily, Chess laid there for a second looking up as Lex casually walked by with both his hands in his pockets.  
"Down there."  
Eyes watery, Chess sat up and sniffled as Rayne trotted up next to him and squatted down, checking his face and body.  
"You alright? What's wrong?" She asked with a worried look.  
Chess slowly pointed to his back and spoke as if he would break down crying at any second, "I got dirt on my clothes."  
Sniffling again, Rayne snorted and grabbed his arm, pulling him up on his feet.  
"You're alright." She said, dusting off any dirt or black smudges she could find on his pearl white shirt.  
After adjusting his striped stockings, Chess rubbed his eyes clean of tears and began chasing behind Rayne, who was catching up to Lex. Just as they did, Lex was moments away from passing through the archway and into the town. Lex looked upward, noticing that the arch was much bigger than he had anticipated, and had several small spotlights attached to it pointing downward.   
Passing under it, Lex and Rayne took their first steps into Barren, closley followed by Chess. Once inside, all three of them stood next to one another, examining the mass of chaos.   
Lex followed the stone path as it extended farther inward, dipping down as if they were on an incline. It led to the center of town which was a huge opening with a water fountain in the middle, carved in the shape of a large Pokemon. Around the fountain were hundreds of people and Pokemon, scurrying about in every direction making it hard to follow one specific person with one's eyes. He also saw that on the edge of the stone brick was several poles with streetlights on top. None of which had power, but each were evenly distributed for illuminating the town when it got dark.  
Down passed the fountain, Lex noticed that the path began again on the opposite side. As he examined the area, he saw a big square metal building with a red roof on top, located to the left of the path from where it began again. Accompanying the red building was several other buildings made out of wood and other material, all with signs that he was not able to read.  
To their right he noticed that yet another path extended out the center of town, only this one was consumed by the rows and rows of the one-to-two story buildings he saw earlier. By the way they were constructed, Lex quickly concluded that they were homes for the people that live in Barren. As he glanced over the area, he noticed several townsfolk engaging in conversation and a few exchanging items that he could not make out clearly, but what he could see was that everyone in the town looked as cheerful and carefree as Rayne and Chess.  
As he expected, when Lex looked to his left he saw that a fourth and final path reached out to a different part of the town. When he studied it, he noticed that it wasn't really a series of buildings like the other two. It was more like one great big three story building that curved around the side of the town. The building looked very modern and the path that extended toward it stopped about halfway and expanded across to the left and right, covering the entire area with stone brick. The area was mostly open so people could travel from end to end freely, but there were several small buildings and streetlights scattered across the way. Multiple large windows were evenly cut into the side of the building, but it was too far away for anyone to see inside.  
Busy focusing hard on every detail he could find, Lex failed to notice the Pokemon approaching him. Suddenly, breaking his concentration, Lex felt something warm rub against the side of his leg and hip. When his eyes shot downward, he saw a Pokemon with pale-tan fur and round, black-rimmed ears. The Pokemon purred as it looked up at him, showing its small, black nose, red, slit pupils, sharp, pointed teeth protruding from its upper jaw, thick whiskers, and red jewel in the center of its forehead. Its long tail had a distinctive curl at the end and its long legs ended with three-toed paws, completed with retractable claws.   
Lex looked around as people walked passed him going in and out the town. Suddenly, he heard a heavily accented voice shouting in his direction from behind him.   
"Persian!"  
Without a moments delay, the tall Pokemon darted away from Lex towards a rugged looking man with a dark wooden stick, almost as tall as he was. The man had on a dark green coat with one whole sleeve ripped off, exposing a white short-sleeve shirt underneath, and a pair of dirty, tan pants with a white belt. His dark-skinned face was covered in brown hair, both from his head and his chin.   
Just as the Persian got up to the man, he rubbed its head and nodded at Lex, turning around and walking away from the town with his Pokemon. Lex looked down, processing the information going through his head and slowly looked back in front of him. He reached his hand to the back of his belt and unclipped one of his Pokeballs. Rayne noticed as he enlarged the ball and held it out in front of him.  
"Wartortle, come out." He said as the ball opened abruptly, shooting out a white light onto the stone path that quickly materialized into Wartortle.  
Chess noticed the Pokemon standing in front of them and smiled. Wartortle glanced at Lex and Rayne with a stern, mean look, before looking up and examining the area around him with curiosity.  
"Hey." Lex said, causing Wartortle to turn around, "I want you t-"  
"Aaaawww, he's adorable!" Chess shouted, cutting Lex off.  
As he did, he skipped toward Wartortle, catching him off guard, and grabbed the sides of his shell, lifting him into the air. Looking startled and scared, Wartortle wiggled for his life as Chess's arm suddenly almost gave up and dropped him.  
"Wow, he's really heavy too. Where'd you get him?" Chess said casually as Wartortle tried several fighting techniques to escape his monstrous grip.  
Lex, who had his mouth half open, gawking at the scene, was unable to respond, but Rayne laughed a bit, placing her hands on her knees and spoke.  
"Lex caught him in Yilkwood, right after meeting me."  
Terrified and shaking, Wartortle finally stopped squirming as Chess held him in the air and spun him around.  
"Ooohh, I see. So the two of you haven't known each other for very long. Okay." He ended cutely, setting Wartortle back on the stone ground.  
Wartortle stood still, staring blankly with a slight twitch in his eye as Chess spun around, holding his hands behind his back.  
"Yep, probably for about two days now." Rayne replied, getting her composure back along with Lex "So why'd you bring Wartortle out?"   
"Um," He started, "I want him to experience what life is like outside of the forest. He gonna' have to get used to it, plus I wanted him to see how other Pokemon live."  
"Hmm, that's smart." Chess exclaimed, reaching down and rubbing one of its bluish-white, fur covered ear, "Okay, so where are we heading first. I've been living here for a little while so I know where most everything is."   
Rayne took a step forward and pointed at the building with the red roof, "I know there's a Pokemon Center here and our Pokemon have been at it for a long time. We should head over there and get them healed up."  
"Sounds good." Chess agreed and spun around, excitedly throwing his hands in the air, "Yay!"  
They slowly began traveling down the path, getting a few steps in before Rayne noticed Lex and Wartortle standing still at the gate.  
"What's wrong?" Rayne asked as she and Chess turned around curiously.  
"Uh, Pokemon Center?" He asked, looking unsure of its meaning.  
Rayne smiled and replied in a way that made her seem like she was joking, "Yeah, the Pokemon Center. You know, big hospital with the red roof, place where trainers can find rest and Pokemon can recover from battles. Probably the most important and commonly visited building to every Pokemon Trainer in the world."  
Lex stood there, listening carefully, and shook his head slowly as she spoke.  
Her smile slowly dissipated as Chess walked up next to her.   
"You've never been to a Pokemon Center?" She said with a voice that was a combination of shock and disbelief.  
"No." Lex replied, gripping his bag strap with agitation from her dumbfound look.  
"What!?" Chess shouted in surprise.  
Rayne folded her arms and spoke, "Huh. How long have you been a Trainer?"  
"Around two years." Lex guessed.  
"Two years and you've never healed your Pokemon!?" Chess shouted again with even more surprise.  
Looking confused, Lex spoke up in a more stern tone, "No, I've healed my Pokemon countless time. I've just used herbs and fruit that I either bought or found and made the medicine myself. I never needed to use a 'Pokemon Center'."  
A brief pause halted the conversation as the three of them took a moment to think. Lex scratched the side of his head trying to avoid Chess's dumbfounded stare. Wartortle stood casually below them with its arms crossed, trying to ignore their conversation. Rayne was the first to break the silence, letting out a small chuckle as she and Lex's eyes met.  
"That's such a you thing to say. Next thing you know you'll be telling us about how you're a spy or secretly famous or something." Rayne said with a sarcastic, bubbly tone.  
"Ha, yeah." Lex replied sarcastically as Chess laugh by himself.  
"Alright well you're in for a treat then, c'mon." Rayne said, waving Lex to follow as she and Chess turned.  
Letting out a sigh, Lex glance at Wartortle and placed his hands in his hoodie pockets, "Try to keep up."  
Chess, Rayne, Lex, and Wartortle traveled down the stone path generally staying on the right side and following the flow of traffic.   
Once Chess had enough room, he skipped ahead of Rayne and started singing, "We're going on an adventure, we're going on an adventure."  
Rayne smiled and looked back at Lex and Wartortle who were both exploring the town with their eyes, studying certain things that caught their attention.  
"Don't forget to blink." She said and giggled after both of them scoffed and averted their eyes.   
As the two of them lagged somewhat behind, Rayne took the opportunity to get to know their new companion a bit better.  
Skipping alongside Chess, the two made themselves quite noticeable as Rayne began the conversation, "So how long have you lived in Barren town?"  
"Oh, around nine months now, just long enough to finish my first semester at the Academy." He replied pointing at the large school to their left.  
"Oh really, how is that? I never went to a second phase school."  
"It's greeaat!" Chess sang with excitement and jumped forward stopping their obnoxious skipping, "They have all kinds of interesting classes and the teachers their are super cool. Plus' theirs all sorts of different clubs and activities available."  
Rayne watched and listened carefully as the short teenager happily ranted on as they made their way closer to the large fountain.  
"My classes are so fun: First period is our home room which is essentially two hours of our basic theory, science, social studies, math, and history. All easy stuff for me. Then it gets really fun with an hour of the 'Pokemon Type' class which, if you didn't know, at the beginning of the year they allow you to pick two specific types of pokemon to take the course on. I chose Dragon and Fairy. Then it's third period which is our gym class where we practice different kinds of strategies and physical capabilities between pokemon... and work out."  
Stopping once they where infront of the large Pokemon statue/fountain, Rayne glanced behind to see Lex slowly catching up as she continued to listen.  
"Oh, oh! Then its the second pokemon type class which for me is Fairy! I love that class so much and the people in it are almost as adorable as me." Chess explained cutely before letting out a sigh, "Finally the school has several hours for clubs and trainers to have their meetings and activities. If you have enough time you could join as many as you want, but the only one I join was the most popular and respected one: The Barren Academy Battle Team."  
Her interest peaking, Rayne nodded her head in understanding and finally spoke, "Oh the 'Battle Team', wasn't that what that Damian guy was a part of?"  
Blinking, Chess replied, beaming with loveable energy, "Mmhhmm, and he's one of the better ones on the team. When I heard he was losing to someone from out of town I had to come see it for myself."  
"Makes sense."   
Finally walking up next to the conversating pair, Lex and Wartortle admired the statue/fountain. The four stood in the middle of the sea of moving bodies seemingly claiming the space they were in as people walking around them.  
"So what Pokemon is that?" Lex asked casually.  
"I believe it's the legendary Pokemon Rayquaza." Chess answered, following the dragon's snake-like body with his eyes.  
"Oh, I know about him. He's apart of the 'weather trio' said to be 'God of the Atmosphere'. He's saved the world many times when Groudon and Kyogre, rulers of the lithosphere and hydrosphere, nearly destroyed it when battling each other. He also defends Earth from threats from outer space like meteors." Rayne explained confidently.  
"Hmm." Lex responded, walking around the statue with the flow of the somewhat thin crowd.  
Following close behind him, Rayne and Chess continued their conversation with Wartortle between them.  
"I like your shirt." Chess started, glancing over the 'Ghost-type' logo.  
"Thanks, I like it too, my step-dad bought it for me."  
"Well good thing he has decent taste."  
Rayne chuckled before continueing, "So you said you've only been living here for the first semester of school?"  
Chess quickly turned his head and smiled, "Yep, I moved here from another region and stay in the dorm buildings. I've got my own room but not alot of stuff other than my clothes and Pokemon."  
"Oh cool, so you're doin' pretty well for yourself."  
"I guess so, what about you? Where are you guys from?" Chess asked inquisitively, meeting his green eyes with hers.  
Caught by the question, Rayne glanced at the back of Lex's head who could surely hear their conversation, "Oh I- I'm from Neveris City. I started training Pokemon two years ago and have been working for Professor Burmis and fighting gyms ever since."  
"Where's Neveris City?"   
"Er, its on the southeastern side of Zenen. It's where the Electric Gym and its twin city Severis is."  
"So it's like two cities next to each other?"  
Rayne nodded her head, "That's right, my dad is a scientist there who works on advanced technology and my mom was an Electric pokemon trainer. There's also the Pokemon Professor, Victoria Burmis's lab next to the Gym."  
"Wooow, your city sounds really cool." Chess marveled, looking over to Lex, "What about him?"  
"Um, I actually don't know about where he's from. Like I said we only met yesterday and its been a bit of a roller coaster getting here so the topic never came up."  
"Aww."  
Peeking back to see the two smiling and talking between each other, Lex failed to see the police officer walking in the opposite direction and bumped into him with his shoulder.  
"My bad." Lex quickly reacted.  
Glaring at even level with Lex was an older man wearing a generic policeman's getup. Most of it being navy blue, the officer had on a flat-top police cap with a gold emblem and black bill. Encasing his upper body was a neat, buttoned up collar shirt with two pockets and a gold badge over his left breast. The shirt tucked in a tightly belted pair of clean blue pants with a police baton, flashlight, and two handcuffs latched onto the belt. The outfit was complete with a pair of black, sturdy boots and reflective sun glasses.  
Behind him was a green, humanoid Pokemon that stood just as tall as the officer. It seemed to resemble a scarecrow with its face having two eye holes through which yellow eyes could be seen, and six smaller holes representing a grinning mouth. It had numerous spikes along the length of its arms, legs, around its neck, and a pattern of dark-green rhombi extends down the front of its body. There was a triangular, dark green feature on its head that resembles a hat with spiky tips to complete the look.  
The officer stared at Lex, adjusting his cap with his dark brown hands and opening his mustash covered lips, "Don't worry about it son."  
Lex watched as the man and his Cacturne continued past Chess and Rayne, then turned his head to see that the metal, three story hospital building was just across the street from them.   
Lex turned and interjected into their conversation.  
"Is this where were going?" He asked, pointing his finger across the road.  
Rayne nodded and the three started making their way across the slightly more crowded street. After finally squeezing through, Lex and Wartortle hesitated infront of the large automated doors that Chess and Rayne were already passing through.  
"C'mon, don't be shy." Rayne turned back and teased.  
Lex scoffed and trotted through the metal door confidently, followed by a Wartortle who did the same. Once the four entered, Rayne and Chess breathed in the familiar sight with ease but Lex was taken aback. His eyes shot around curiously at the shiny tile interior with it's clean red and white scheme. To the right he saw different groups of people and pokemon gathered at tables and lounging on couches watching the T.V.s hanging on the walls. Some were using different terminal computers along the wall while others enjoyed food from the scattered vending machines.   
As his eyes flowed frontward to the main lobby, he saw a short line of trainers stretched infront of a wide, metal desk with two women posted behind it. The women wore uniforms that clearly discerned them as nurses with the snow-white fabric and headpiece with a red plus symbol. One was rather tall, with long blonde hair that was pointing to her right as she walked from behind the desk through a small lached door and guided two teenagers through a open doorway to the back rooms. The other was shorter with equally shorter greenish-black hair, clearly dyed. She was speaking with a bright smile to a thin, brunette and a child who held the woman's hand anxiously. They had two large flat-screens mounted on the wall behind the desk and several machines that were foreign to Lex's eyes.  
To the left was an open clearing with two silver elevator doors complete with two different potted plants on each side. Toward the back wall was the large open doorway where he could slightly see several rows of white-sheet hospital beds.  
"Cool right? Let's go get in line." Rayne said, purposely breaking his extended observation.  
The three walked forward and conformed to the line. Lex, hardly notice the five minutes it took them to reach the front desk because of his habit of spacing out when in a new place. Rayne had begun to notice how often he did that.   
"Hi there, my name's Nurse Clare, how can I help you?" The tall blonde nurse spoke with high energy.  
Rayne placed her hands on the counter and replied, "We've just arrived from a long journey and would like to get our Pokemon checked up and healed."  
"Of course, trainer I.D.s?" She asked, holding her hand out.  
As if she was saw the question coming, Rayne had preemptively pulled a small, laminated card with her picture on it out from her shorts pocket. The nurse graciously took the card and examined the contents. She glanced over the name: Rayne Cloud, then gender: Female, then age: 17, over to the pokemon count and trainer I.D. number.   
"So will you be healing all four Pokemon today?"  
"Yes, please." She replied kindly.  
"Perfect, anyone else?" She asked, handing the card back to Rayne and looking at the other two.  
"Oh, no thanks Clare, you took great care of mine yesterday." Chess said smiling.  
"Yes of course Chess, yours is always a tall order." She laughed through her words, "And what about you sir?"  
Suddenly all the attention was focused on the quiet Lex as the three turned to him.   
Feeling a cold sweat running down his neck, he turned his head and cleared his throat, "No thanks, I take care of my own Pokemon."  
His response had been more aggravated than he intended.  
"Aww, c'mon grumpy. Trust me, they do an excellent job of restoring Pokemon. It's literally here for that purpose." Rayne reassured.  
"I said I'm good." He grunted, staring blue daggers at the unwavering Rayne  
With a sigh she accepted his response and pulled her four Pokeballs out her bag, handing them to the nurse.   
"It should be about twenty minutes." The nurse stated before turning around and placing each ball in a clear cylinder capsule and shooting it up a tube protruding from the wall behind her.  
Then she returned, typing something up on the terminal next to her as the three stepped away from the line and made their way into the lounge area.   
Chess sunk his tiny body into a white couch cushion and cutely stretched out his arms and legs with a whimper.  
"Oh shit, I should call my mom." Rayne announced after noticing one of the wall terminals.  
"Go ahead, we have time." Chess replied as she nodded and trotted over to the closest free computer.   
After playing with his suspenders, Chess placed his attention on an anxious Lex. He was staring at the door, and periodically glancing at Wartortle who had made his way over to a yellow, humpback Pokemon on all fours next to a group of trainers. The Numel stared with half-shut eyes as Wartortle scanned it cautiously, he even poked its face a few times, but its only respond was a monotone 'Noo'.   
Chess watched him for a little while before he spoke.  
"You really don't like being around people do you?" Chess asked with puffy cheeks as he eyed Lex nosily.  
"I don't know." He replied lowly, not looking at the blonde.   
"So, what's your story? Pokemon trainer looking to conquer all the region's gyms and become a pokemon master like the rest of us? I guess I could see it but like she said earlier, I get the feeling there's something more interesting." Chess explained, crossing his legs on the couch.  
"Sure." He said quickly, remaining uninterested.  
"So how many badges do you have so far?"  
"Huh?" Lex slipped out, finally turning to the boy looking confused.  
"How many? I saw you fight Damian and you said you've been a trainer for two years, so my guess is you have quite a few." Chess said smiling through his words and watching his expression change as he thought of an answer.  
"Uh- Um, none."  
"Wow, really? After what I saw I figured you'd have at least four."  
Scratching his head, Lex looked away again as he spoke his excuse, "Well, I haven't actually went to a gym yet."  
Chess's eyes widened, "Why not? What have you been doing for two years?"  
"Um, training..." He said insecurely.  
"Jeez, that's a long ti-"  
Just then Chess was cut off by a loud yelp infront of him. Lex turned around to see two teenagers stepping back from a growling Pokemon with concerned looks, one was holding his hand. Once he saw that the provoked Pokemon was a blue turtle with whitish fur he immediately stomped over to the scene.  
"Wartortle!" He shouted sternly.  
Wartortle ignored Lex's call and focused his attention on the trainer and the defensive Numel, ready to attack at any moment.  
"Hey!" Lex shouted again as he stomped up beside him reaching out.  
Wartortle quickly snapped back and tried to bite Lex's hand but he reacted quick enough to dodge. Wartortle looked up and saw that Lex had a more angry expression than he did and they had a intense stand off for about ten seconds before Wartortle finally stepped back and groaned.  
Lex continued to stare him down till he looked down at the floor and stomped his way towards Chess.  
Watching him the whole time, he ran a hand through his bangs, not noticing the trainer walking up behind him.  
"Sorry, about that, I don't know what I did to piss him off."  
Lex turned to see a buzzed-cut boy with almond-shaped eyes and dark tan skin. He was short and stocky with a white and green jersey jacket and grey cargo shorts. The cap on his head was lime green with a Turtwig stamp on the top of the bill.  
Looking anxious, he reached behind his head and tried to smile, "Uh, but don't you think its better to keep short-tempered Pokemon like that in their ball. It could turn into a dangerous situation."  
Lex's eyes dulled as he met blue with dark brown, "Why don't you mind your own fucking business."  
Shoving his hands in his hoodie pockets, Lex turned smoothly and made for the exit.  
"C'mon Wartortle." He said as he passed Chess on the couch.

Five minutes earlier...  
"Wow, so your finally in Barren town. It took you long enough." The female voice came from the speakers on the terminal.  
The square screen displayed a clear image of a slender dark-skinned woman with a decent sized afro and white apron over her red short sleeve shirt. The background was the inside of a spacious wooden house with a couch and T.V. behind her.  
"Fuck off, mom." She said sarcastically, "I got lost on the way here."  
"Ha, lost again? You really are my daughter. Our sense of direction could't be any worse could it."  
"No it really couldn't." She smiled.  
They both shared a laugh and a short silence before her mom spoke again, "So how long till your in New Yale?"  
"I'm not sure, but I know it can't be but a few days away, I'll have to ask-" Rayne paused before excitement overtook her.  
"Oh yeah, I'm traveling with a guy now."  
"WHAT!?" The screen blared loudly causing her to retreat a bit.  
"When did this happen? You were alone back in Rivilen... and you were so depressed after losing you said you'd been pretending to be mute to avoid people."  
"That was weeks ago mom, this happened like yesterday."  
"Oh, so you two just met. Is he cute?"  
Rayne nodded rapidly with a grin, "Yeah hes got some really good 'traits'."  
"Oof! I need details baby, is he nice, tall, black, white, short hair, what? C'mon."  
"Uh, he's a little shorter than me, amazing body, long hair, white, beautiful blue eyes, and has a really interesting personality."  
"Jesus you really do take after me..."  
"I was actually thinking the same thing, haha. Where is Adam?"  
"He's at the lab with Vic, he's just had a major breakthrough with his research."  
"That's great, he still spending all day, every day there?  
"Yeah its just me and Electabuzz nowadays, but I get him back for it at night." She said sassily with a wink.  
She smiled, "I missed you mo-"  
"Wartortle!"  
She turned around to see Lex quickly walking over to two other trainers on the opposite side of the lounge.   
"What is it?"  
Rayne didn't reply to her mother as she watched the scene noticing an angry Wartortle in the middle.  
"I don't know." She said before turning back at the screen, "Hey mom, I've got to go."  
"No no no no, we still need to talk boy's. Have you hit that shit yet? What's his name? Are you being safe?"  
"Oh my god, I love you! I'll give you all the details when I'm in New Yale." She exclaimed before reaching up to one of the terminal buttons.  
"Bye mom."  
"Hmph, bye I guess."  
Rayne smiled before pressing the button and ending the video call. She then quickly grabbed her hiker bag and turned around, making her way towards Chess. She noticed Lex and Wartortle walking out the automatic doors and picked up her pace.   
"Hey!" She called out to Chess.  
"Yo, how'd your video call go." He replied casually.  
"Um, great, what happened just now."  
Chess pointed behind her, "I think we're about to find out."  
Chess bounced off the couch and Rayne turned around to see two young guys standing behind her, one being the owner of the Numel and the other wearing the lime green hat.  
"Hey, do you two know that guy?" The short one asked with a concerned vibe.  
Chess nodded and Rayne replied, "Yeah, what happened."  
While the one with the green and white jacket explained what happened Chess noticed the other one staring at him the whole time. He was taller than Rayne, having curly brown hair on top but the lower half of his head was shaved. He wore a black and blue tee-shirt and blue jeans.   
The boy's stare grew more intense and he didn't pretend he wasn't staring directly at him.  
Getting nervous, Chess shuffled behind Rayne and averted his eyes.  
"Can we help you?" Rayne asked defensively, interrupting the other's story.  
The man eyes suddenly pinged in realization and he clapped his hands, "Aha! Your that kid prodigy. The best fighter on the Barren Battle Team!"  
The other green themed turned to get a better look at the blonde, "Hey your right, I saw you on T.V., what was your name Chess- something."  
Chess bounced from behind Rayne and smiled, bowing for the pair with his arm extended, "Yep, that's me. Chess Villette."  
The two stood in awe for a moment then the taller one spoke up, "Your kind of a celebrity around here nowadays. It's really cool to just meet you at the P.C."  
"Yeah, I'm pretty amazing I know." Chess boasted, puffing out his chest.  
Rayne placed her arm on his head and leaned on it, pushing his head downwards.   
"Okay shorty." She teased, "You never told me that."  
Chess winked and stuck his tongue out before reaching up and pushing her arm off with a pouty tone, "Stop it! You'll mess up my hair."  
She giggled before returning her attention to the boys, "So that's it then, he got pissed and left I'm assuming."  
"Ha, well- I guess, pretty much." He chuckled nervously.  
"I'm sorry, he's just like that."  
"No, it's fine. No harm done." He replied, shaking his hands.  
With that Rayne and Chess were preparing to leave when the taller man spoke up, "Hey, would it be alright to have a Pokemon battle later?"  
Both of their attention was caught by the question and they looked at each other.  
Rayne was the first to reply, "I think I've had my fill of battles today, how about tomorrow?"  
As if a passion was ignited in his eyes, the man shouted, "Sounds good! Meet us at the huge mossy stone outside of town around noon."  
"I know where that is." Chess said to Rayne.  
"Okay, see you there." She waved as they made their way to the doors.  
Passing through the metal doors, Rayne's eyes were on a swivel as she searched for a certain grey haired man. Her eyes passed over the people on the sidewalks, stores across the street, then to her left.  
Her eyes widened when she she saw Lex slumped down to a squat against the the Pokemon Center wall. She noticed his eyes were soft through his bangs, looking regretful.   
He was holding a enlarged pokeball in his hand before hearing Rayne voice, "Hey you."  
Lex glanced to his right and saw a pair of thin, dark legs walking towards to him.   
As they approached closer, Lex scratched the side of his head and pushed himself up.  
"Hey." He groaned lowly.  
"Still want to go get something to eat?"  
Suddenly, Chess skipped up next to her with his hand raise, "Ooh, ooh, ooh!"  
"Uh. Yes Chess?" She replied.  
"I know the cutest restaurant in town! They have adorable little Pokemon working with them and the food is really good."  
Rayne smiled and closed her eyes, "Sounds great, just wait for me to get my Pokemon back and we'll head over there."  
"Okay!" He replied cutely.  
Lex stayed quiet.

Twenty minutes later...  
"So how do you feel about it Rayne?" Chess asked with his head tilted.  
Rayne adjusted herself in the booth seat while sipping out her drink with a straw. Even though she had started the conversation, she was caught spacing out a few times to observe the casual-style establishment they were in. In the center of the restaurant, was a U-shaped bar with stools lined around it. Only a few people were there enjoying drinks served by a thin, pale skinned girl with straight, white-dyed hair. Around the bar, several groups of tables were lined in a grid over a carpet floor till they reached the booths build into the outer wall with a large window accompanying each one.  
She would also watch the waitresses going around to the other customers as they would serve them food and drinks on a large round tray. It caught her attention because she would periodically see different pokemon coming out and helping the girls serve food. One being a prim-ape looking Pokemon with orange fur and a long tail with a blazing fire at the tip. The Monerno stood out to her because of the adorable black and white tux shirt it wore giving it that waiter feel. She didn't see many Pokemon wearing clothes so it was interesting to her.  
Placing her drink down, she looked to her left at the anticipating Chess and replied, "Well, there are those who are completely against eating Pokemon for numerous reasons. Mostly thinking its just unethical of trainers to eat the same things they love and live with. While other people just give no fucks at all about it. Me personally, I just won't eat the Pokemon I own or those around me own out of respect for them. Some people can still thinks its a bad thing but honestly, it just the world we live in. Pokemon eat each other, eat us, and we eat them; it's just nature."  
"Yeah I feel you there, I'm pretty much the same way. Some food is just too good to not eat." Chess said, fantasizing about the lunch he was about to be served.  
Rayne led her lilac gaze across the table to the other side of the booth. The motionless body occupying the seat was Lex, holding his chin up with his hand and staring out the window with an impassive stare. For some reason, the other side of that booth felt so far away from her.  
"Oh Lex, get this shit, apparently Blondie here is the academy's Battle Team MVP. He's low-key famous around here."  
Lex glanced over at Chess who was holding a hand behind his head smiling. Lex was still having a hard time imagining him being close to his own age.  
"Aww it was nothing really, I just joined in on a whim but a guess the competition was a little stale lately cause it was really easy making my way to the top rank."  
Lex finally turned his head to enter the conversation, "So you've got skills in battling then?"  
"I'd like to think so." He giggled.  
"Well have to battle sometime then."  
Chess placed his finger on his lip in thought, "Hmm, I think you might have a chance in beating me, but I don't know. There might be to big a difference in our Pokemon's power."  
"Hooohoo, 'might be a chance', huh? That sound alot like a challenge." Lex grinned as Chess stuck his tongue out.  
"You must be pretty strong then Chess, To be honest I'm surprised, you didn't look the type to me." Rayne said earnestly.  
"Because I'm so cute!" He squealed energetically while throwing his hands up.  
"Fucking adorable." She smiled, patting his head.  
As their conversation trailed on, the three of them failed to notice the red-headed waitress approach them with their tray of food.  
"Ooohh, yay!" Chess clapped.  
"One grilled Tentacool. A roasted Magikarp with the house special sauce, and one Tauros burger with fries. Enjoy!" The waitress said in a lively, but ordered tone.  
The three's mouths watered in unison as the plates of food were dispersed between them. Chess's lime eyes glazed over the grilled sea creature's body that was impaled through the center with a thin wooden stick. Rayne's stomach growled when she saw the steaming cooked fish infront of her slathered in a light red sauce. As for Lex, even though he attempted to hide his excitement, his face glowed up with anticipation when the large burger stuffed with meat and lettuce was placed infront of him.  
"Another Moo Moo Milk for you sir?" The waitress asked in Chess's direction before walking away.  
"Oh yes please, I love milk." Chess said cutely before leaving all manor of adorableness behind and savagely taking a bite out the top the squid like Pokemon.  
"Okay." She said pleasantly as she reached passed Rayne and grabbed the empty glass next to Chess.  
As she did, Rayne was able to pick up a smell she recognized off the waitress that was strong enough to contrast the food. It was a smell she hated, and almost made her sick when it hit her.   
As the waitress walked away, Lex noticed a frown on Rayne's face before diving in.  
"Did they overcook it?" Lex asked looking somewhat concerned.  
"Hmm?" She looked up surprised, "Oh no, the waitress just smelled like pot."  
"Yeah I know." He replied, finally lifting the burger to his mouth and taking a large bite.  
She watched as his eyes basically rolled backwards in pleasure, she wondered how long it had been since he'd gone out to a restaurant and ate good food like this.  
Without thinking about it too much, she picked up a silver fork and knife and sunk them into her own food.  
"God that's good." She said, chewing a mouthful of fish.  
"I told you!" Chess bragged, "I swear, Tentacool shouldn't be so delicious if they didn't want to be eaten."  
"It's so good you question their evolution." Rayne chuckled.  
"Hehe."  
Around ten minutes passed as they stuffed their faces and talked. Somewhere along the way, the conversation shifted into one about traveling.  
"Yeah, I plan on going to stock up after this." Lex said in a more relaxed tone.  
Chess sighed in satisfaction as he laid back in the booth holding his stomach.  
"Cool, we can all go prepare for the journey to New Yale. Is there a Pokemart here Chess?"  
"Actually no, there's an open market down the street a ways though. There's tons of stalls and places to go buy potions and food and stuff." Chess said sitting up, "Oh wait! I know where we should go first, it extremely important."  
"Oh? Where's that?" Rayne asked interested.

Some time later...  
"Oi, what the fuck is this?" Lex said, looking a combination of confused and disgusted.  
He stared forward blankly, into the sea of racks all outfitted with shirts and pants hanging in organized rows. The blue carpet floor stretched all the way to the back wall that he could see was lined with wooden cupboards full of differently designed shoes. The side walls were decorated with different hats and accessories, one of which having the check out counter and dressing rooms attached to it.  
Rayne gasped and skipped forward as she pulled her hair tie off, letting her braids swing freely at her shoulders. Moving to the left side of the shop, she reached for a pair of jeans looped through a metal hanger.  
"Ooo." She admired.  
Chess tugged at Lex's hoodie, breaking his dumbfound expression, "C'mon. I'm bringing you to the back."  
Before Lex could protest, Chess yanked his arm with inhuman strength, causing him to follow unwillingly.  
"Wait- What? Hold up!"  
"This isn't the best shop in town, but I figured it would be a good start in fixing your fashion sense." Chess continued, completely ignoring Lex's pleas.  
They stopped once they were infornt one of the dressing room doors and Chess spun around holding out his hand.  
"Now gimme' your bag." He demanded.  
Lex had never held a more confused look than he did at that moment.  
"Why are we here? My clothes are fine, I just want t-" He fumbled out but stopped when he noticed his bag had been slipped off.  
Before he knew it he was shoved into the dressing room and the door slammed shut.  
"Now I'm gonna bring you some stuff and you put it all on! There's no mirror in that one so I'll be your judge." He heard Chess shout from the other side of the door.

Several minutes later...  
"Fucking shit, damnit." Lex grunted to himself as he struggled his second leg into the pants, looping his belt through the waistband.  
Looking down at himself, he felt violently uncomfortable, what with to not having his familiar hoodie and the sudden change in style. Scratching the side of his head, Lex slowly opened the door.  
"This is fucking stupid." He spoke with an irritated tone.  
Expecting to be greeted by the short, golden-headed demon that forced him into this situation, Lex was stunned to meet his eyes with Rayne's. She had been trying on a black fedora just as he stepped out and her jaw dropped with shock.  
Lex still had his freely curled and tangled hair, but that was about the only similarity: around his neck was a midnight-black scarf with a scarlet red flower design across it, covering his upper body was a black, somewhat-slim fitting v-neck shirt that left his jarring collar-bones exposed, with a silver dog-tag necklace resting in the center of his chest, below was a pair of loose-fitting, dark grey jeans with his same boots as before on his feet, on his right wrist was a metal, chain bracelet with a skull and two outstretching horns weaved into it.  
She remained in the dumbfound state for some time as she tried to wrap her head around this extreme contrast in style. She couldn't get over how nice he seemed in modern fashion clothes and how much he looked like he would fit in with normal society.  
"Uh"  
"Um"  
They both let out insecurely, and Lex whipped his head right, looking down.  
Just then, Rayne got her composure back and she smirked, placing a hand on her hip.   
"Welp, it's official. Your hot!" She winked, holding a thumbs up.  
Lex's eyes widened, and color rushed to his cheeks.   
"Ahah!" Chess announced, jumping between the two and throwing a thin, black beanie with a red logo onto his head, covering the upper half of his bangs.  
Inside, Lex was thanking Chess for saving him there.  
"I think this give him a more 'down to Earth' look you know?" He explained as he stepped back, admiring his craft.  
"Yep, I'm very impressed Chess." Rayne replied.  
Lex fumbled with adjusting the shirt and jeans, trying to somehow fit into them better but just couldn't relax with both of them starting at him.  
"I think I'm done now." He grumbled without looking at either of them.  
"That's okay." He said sweetly, "I put your other clothes in your bag. You can just go up the the cashier with that on, I'll pay for it."  
"Huh?" Lex jerked up as Chess and Rayne began walking towards the cashier counter.  
He noticed Rayne hang the hat back on the metal rack and pick up her own bag, "Aww, how sweet."  
"A- Aren't you two getting anything?" He asked somewhat disoriented.  
Rayne turned around first.   
"Oh no I was only looking. I've got plenty of different outfits in this bad boy right here." She said lifting her bag.  
Chess threw his hands behind his head and continued taking long steps, "Ha, I would never be caught dead shopping here."   
He paused and glanced at the cashier, "Ring up everything he's wearing please!"


	5. A double battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOT FINISHED YET!!

After leaving the clothes store, the group of three made their way to the other side of town where a outstretching open market swallowed the street. Rows of stalls and tent-like shops reached out as far as one could see and combining that with the sea of people, one might assume there was some kind of festival going on. Rayne and Chess instantly ran to the closest food stall even though they just stuffed their faces and Lex took the time to break away and get some shopping of his own done.   
After selling his berries and trading the others, he was able to get enough travel food, healing fruits, and some new pokeballs to last him weeks. He also took the time to redress himself into his normal look and stuffed the scar and other accessories into the bottom of his bag.  
Meanwhile, Chess and Rayne had a good time exploring the different booths and snacks available. The eventually stopped at a game stall where the objective was to throw several balls into different goals. Rayne was surprisingly good at it and won Chess a stuffed Herdier toy. They eventually remembered what their reason for coming was and Rayne bought several potions and status healers.  
After about thirty minutes, Rayne and Chess started making their way to the meet spot the three set before splitting up. As they made their way towards the large pokemon fountain, Chess spotted a boy with a black hood slung over his head looking overbearingly depressive.  
"Hey, there he is!" Chess pointed, "Aww, he already put his jacket back on."  
"Well I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did." She said, reminiscing the memory as her and Chess jogged over to him.  
Lex noticed the two of them running towards him and took a few steps their way. He instantly regretted his decision when his mid-section was tackled by the golden headed demon.  
"Lex look what Rayne got me!" He exclaimed hugging him tightly and smiling.  
He held up the stuffed, dog-like toy and Rayne couldn't help but laugh. Lex stared down at the big green eyes glowing at him with pure agitation and discomfort as he reached down and grabbed the boy by the sides of his waist.  
"Whoa." Chess slipped as he was lifted into the air with fluid force.  
"Please stop grabbing me child." Lex said sternly, staring daggers at the smiling boy.  
"Hey I'm not a child!" He pouted in the air, throwing his hands at him.  
Lex sat him down and Rayne gave him a soft expression that he didn't see.   
"So. It's getting pretty late isn't it?" Rayne said, stepping herself between the two of them.   
Lex glanced through his bangs up at the dark orange shade of the evening sky.   
"Yeah." He replied.  
"So what's the plan guys, are we going to leave straight away tomorrow? I'm so excited I can't wait!" Chess said quickly while jumping up and down.  
"I guess we could, I didn't really plan on staying here more than a night or two." Rayne said with a giggle as she tried settling him down.  
"I'm leaving tomorrow for sure." Lex said bluntly.  
Rayne and Chess both looked at him, "Whelp, there you have it. Looks like we’re following Mr. Anti-social." Rayne announced sassily.  
Lex scoffed and started walking pasted them.   
"Hold up." Rayne started, "Chess does this town have any trainer motels?"   
Lex stopped and looked back confused.  
"Yeah, right past the Pokemon Center. There's a H and H a few buildings down."  
"Cool, we'll head that way. Meet us here tomorrow at ten." Rayne said as she waved and caught up to Lex.  
Chess outstretched his arm as high as it could go and waved dramatically, "Okay! See you guys tomorrow!"  
Rayne giggled and walked up beside Lex at his pace.  
As the two walked for a bit away from the fountain, Rayne looked at him and smiled, "I'll bet you were planning on sleeping outside weren't you?"  
Lex coughed and looked away from her, "So what?"  
"Ahah!" She shouted triumphantly, "Well too bad, your sleeping with me tonight."  
Lex stopped sharply as he swallowed his tongue, butterfree's in his stomach. He didn't know how to respond other than staring at her to see if she was serious.  
"God you make it to easy." She said with a shit-eating grin, "Relax their playboy, well have separate beds."  
"Huh?" He said louder than he expected, "But why do we have to have the same room?"  
Rayne looked at him as if the answer was obvious, "Because it's cheaper that way, duh."  
She began making her way down the path some more and a emotionally distraught Lex somehow found the strength to follow. They pasted the metal building with the red roof and several other shops and homes before they stood in font a wooden arch with a sign that said 'Hollow Homes'.  
"C'mon." She gestured as she started down the little stone path.  
Lex followed her down the path and up the creaking steps. The building was completely wood but still seemed strong enough to support the second and third story. Rayne opened the door casually and a little bell went off in response.  
"Welcome to Hollow Homes Motel." A formal looking woman in a blue suit said from behind a wooden counter.   
Lex reached up and slid the hood off his head as he peered over the counter. The woman had long, wavy brown hair and blue eyes that were much darker than his own. She stood straight with the suit tightly compressing her large bust as she smiled.  
Rayne walked up to the counter and started to speak when she saw somebody else behind the counter. Next to the woman was a child in a black swivel chair. He was spinning wildly with his head hung over the back.  
Before she got a chance to speak, the brown haired boy shouted with his head upside down, "Hey it’s you!"  
"Sup." She smiled, waving at the lapis eyed boy.  
Just as he realized what her being here meant, Lex stepped up next to her, examining the walls and design of the room.  
"Whaa-" The boy squealed as he fell from the chair.  
"Lucas please! What did I tell you about making a scene with customers!" The woman said with a mother’s fierceness.  
Rubbing his head, Lucas looked up, excitement still in his eyes, "Sorry mom, but this was the guy that I was telling you about today."  
"I understand, but you must behave yourself."  
"Okay." He replied sounding defeated.  
"Okay." She inhaled, getting her composure back.  
"Sorry about that, he's been talking about your battle all day." She said with her previous sweetness.  
"I told you, you had fans." Rayne grinned shoving Lex with her elbow.  
Lex rolled his eyes and looked away.  
"So, how can I help the two of you."  
"We'd like a two bed room for one night."   
"Okay that's two bed's for one night. Names?"  
As the girls continued about the room, Lex noticed he was being watched creepily from behind the counter. The little boy was failing at hiding his excitement at he spun around in his chair, staring up at Lex. Lex scratched the side of his head and tried to ignore it.  
"Oh no, there's none left." The receptionist said puling Lex's attention to the conversation.  
"None with two beds?" Rayne asked.  
"Seems we just gave out our last one, I'm sorry."  
"Ooohh, guess you will be sleeping with me after all Lex." Rayne grinning out confidently as she turned to see him making for the exit.  
"Oh no you don't!" She shouted, reeling him back in by the shoulder, "You can't leave cause your paying."  
Stunned by her words, Lex cracked his neck as her looked over at her, "Huh?"  
She met his eyes and spoke with an obviously fake, apologetic tone, "Well, I kinda spent the last of my money today with Chess. Sorry I forgot to tell you."  
"How is this my problem again?" Lex spoke with every fiber in his being suppressing his anger.  
"Cause we both agreed on finally getting cleaned up once we got here back at the lake remember?" Rayne stated.  
"Or don't you want a chance to see me all wet with nothing but a towel covering my body." She continued spoke softly, looking down into his eyes with one hand touching his chest and the other moving the braids from in font her eyes.  
Again the nervous feeling in his stomach swelled and his chest got extremely tight. He tried to look away in defiance but she simply creped in closer, a suggestive smile across her face as she started to cup his face.   
Without realizing what happened, he found himself handing over two green bills with a shaky expression.  
"Haha, I win!" She announced happily, leaving the crippled boy to reevaluate his life choices.   
"Wow... She's good." The woman said as the boy nodded in agreement.


End file.
